


Puppet Master and the Two Brothers

by c0lasmyl1fe



Category: Puppet Master (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 56
Words: 98,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0lasmyl1fe/pseuds/c0lasmyl1fe
Summary: Abandoned in the woods by their master the puppets must abandon the one place they called home for near a century: Toulon's trunk.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Abandoned

**Author's Note:**

> (Leech Woman N/A due being thrown in an iron stove and burned alive.) and Jester doesn't have his hat.)  
> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> .  
> The time line in this story is set in 2017, as I'd originally started writing it in that year.

The puppets didn't know what was going on. Their master had told them they were going on a small trip, a sort of vacation after defeating Sutekh's totems again. Although the master didn't show it, Blade and Jester knew the master was scared out of his wits, and of the puppets. Even though they had won their battle the master had asked if the totems would return. Against his better judgment, Blade nodded. A couple weeks later the master had given them a new dose of their formula; Jester, Tunneler and Blade having a little more than the others, and told them they were going on a little vacation up in the mountains. That didn't bode well for the puppets.

So there they were, gathered in the trunk in the back seat of the car.

“ _I don’t like the looks of this._ ” Jester mumbled.

“ _Me neither._ ” Blade replied.

“ _You don’t suppose he’s going to abandon us, do you?_ ” Tunneler asked. 

The car hit a slight bump in the road causing the puppets to momentarily be lifted from the trunk’s wall and bump into each other. Jester tried to shift closer to Blade who could feel the other’s slight tremble.

“ _Are you alright?_ ” he asked.

“ _What if the master does abandon us? This will be the fourth one if he does._ ” Jester whispered but the others heard him regardless.

Soon enough they felt the car make a turn and the road no longer smooth. Now they were all bouncing away and bumping into each other for what felt like hours. The car finally slowed down and came to an abrupt stop; Blade, Jester, Tunneler and Six Shooter all shifting to their left, Pinhead and Torch shifting to their right.

Torch, being the heaviest, fell out of his holding strap and landed on Six Shooter with a thud, leaving Six winded. “ _Why Toulon decided to make you entirely out of metal I will never know._ ” he wheezed.

“ _Your guess is as good as mine. Now scoot over._ ” Torch growled and tried to squeeze himself between Six and Jester, forcing Blade to scoot next to Tunneler who was forced to turn on his side to try and make room but it wasn’t enough.

“ _Torch, get back on your side._ ” Blade grunted, trying to make himself comfortable without hurting anyone.

Before Torch could reply they all heard the car door open and then their trunk being dragged out from the bottom side and then they were all suddenly upside down being dragged away from the car. Now that he thought about it, Blade didn’t think the master shut the engine off. . . . They were going to be abandoned! He let out a foul curse and told the others.

Though in retrospect he probably shouldn’t have because Jester then went into a panic attack and tried to get the trunk open. Their rough housing caused the rest of the holding straps to snap so now everyone was loose and making a loud ruckus to get the master’s attention, but he ignored them and dragged them a little further before dropping the trunk and quickly unlocking the latches then ran back to his car and drove off as fast as he could.

“ _Pin, hold down Jester! Tunneler, drill a couple holes together so we can get out of here!_ ” Blade shouted. 

Pinhead grabbed hold of Jester and held him back, the rest moved back as much as they could to give Tunneler some space. Tunneler immediately started his drill and drilled into the wall above his head, all the while Jester trying to get free of Pinhead’s hold. Pinhead was having a hard time holding the little puppet, Blade trying to calm him down as well. Jester was fighting so much Six grabbed hold of Jester’s legs with his middle arms, and his feet with his third pair of arm, using the top pair to shield his face. Pinhead kept a firm hold of Jester’s upper body, managing to cover his mouth at the same time. So now Jester’s panicked shouts was muffled.

Torch was getting tired of Jester’s squirming and crawled over the other puppets, much to their annoyed discomfort. Tunneler stopped his drilling for Torch to get by.

“ _What are you doing?_ ” he asked.

“ _If we’re upside down the locks could be as well._ ” Torch said and punched the trunks center opening as hard as he could. Tunneler just shrugged and went back to drilling the wall. Blade, while trying to calm Jester and help Pinhead and Six Shooter to hold him down, felt his foot slide into a crevasse and get stuck. Shifting to free his foot he accidentally opened the latch that held Decapitron’s heavy casket which fell out and landed on his right ankle. He yelled out in pain. Jester finally stopped his squirming and looked at Blade.

“ _What happened?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Nothing._ ” Blade huffed.

Jester muffled a negative sound, calling Blade out.

“ _Nothing happened, I’m fine._ ” Blade said. “ _Are you calm?_ ” he asked Jester.

Jester was quiet for a moment before he nodded. Pinhead cautiously let him go, ready to grab him again if he panicked.

“ _You don’t yell out ‘Ah! Fuck!’ and not be in pain._ ” Jester said, his voice trembling a little.

“ _I’m through!_ ” Tunneler called out, his drill usually caused him to temporarily go deaf when he drilled through wood.

“ _Jester,_ ” Blade called, but Jester was already crawling over him and over to the hole Tunneler made and squeezed himself out. Once out he hurriedly went up to the front and undid the latches. Pinhead was then able to lift the lid and with it, Decapitron’s casket, until the hinges to its hidden door broke and landed right back on Blade’s ankle, this time snapping it out of place and fracturing his leg and he screamed out loud.

Pinhead shoved the trunk open and they all saw that night had fallen. Torch lit his fire to provide light and they all saw what caused Blade to scream. Jester gasped and headed over to the casket to try and lift it off. Pinhead assisted and they both placed the casket on its bottom so Decapitron wouldn’t be harmed much further. Six Shooter stood up and helped Blade up to his feet, letting him lean on him for support.

“ _Now what do you we do, O wise leader?_ ” Torch growled sarcastically.

Thunder rumbled overhead before Blade could say anything. “ _Now we turn the trunk over, put Decapitron back his secret hold and climb back in._ ”

“ _Exactly. WE will, not you. Not with that injury._ ” Jester said.

“ _Jester,_ ” Blade protested. A flash of lightning revealed a cabin not too far ahead. “ _We’ll head to that cabin instead._ ” he said, pointing ahead.

“ _What cabin?_ ” Pinhead asked. Lightning flashed again and they all saw the cabin. 

“ _That cabin._ ” Blade said and Six Shooter passed him over to Jester so that he could help Pinhead, Tunneler and Torch carry Decapitron.

They moved as fast as they could before the rain started. A soft downpour got to them by the time they reached it and all crawled in any under space they could find and would reconvene afterwards.

Jester carried Blade further underground to ensure that they wouldn’t get wet and possibly splinter from the water damage.

“ _Should be safe enough this deep._ ” Jester said and reached out to see if there was any place to sit. When he found none he lowered Blade to the ground as gently as he could before sitting down next to him. 

“ _How’s your leg?_ ” he asked.

“ _Hurts._ ” Blade breathed, panting to catch his breath.

“ _Uh, if you were still human, how bad would the damage be?_ ” Jester asked.

A harsh wind blew through, a down-draft sweeping underneath the cabin causing a loud howl before Blade replied. “ _Well, broken ankle, shattered bones in the foot and a possible fracture in my shin._ ”

“ _Oh, so you were a doctor before._ ”

“ _Yes, I was a doctor._ ”

They sat in silence, listening to the storm outside grow stronger. Jester was trying to think of something else to say to keep the conversation going, but a quick flash of lightning illuminated a strange silhouette.

“ _Did you see that?_ ” he asked. He felt Blade shift abruptly.

“ _See what?_ ” Blade hissed.

“ _Wait here._ ” Jester said and got up to investigate.

Another flash and the silhouette was noticeable. Jester paused in his investigation, frightened a little by the shadow. Then he heard some shuffling near him and turned in its direction. A bright flash and a deafening thunder crack a few seconds later caused him to jump in fright and he found himself dangling an inch off the ground. His shirt had caught on something and the shadow in front of him being lighted by the lightning proved to be even more frightening.

Needless to say Jester was getting pretty scared. He reached scared shit-less when the silhouette was revealed to have red glowing eyes and a loud roar. 

“ _AAHH!!! HELP!!_ ” he screamed and fought to get back on the ground. The roar sounded again and he decided to forget his shirt and ripped it to free himself then ran back to Blade, bumping into him instead and knocking them both down.

He and Blade suddenly went still when they heard what sounded like stomping. It was only confirmed when lightning showed the shadow had moved a few inches from it its previous spot. But then the stomping stopped and there was silence again aside from the rain pouring down. Jester didn’t want to move and Blade couldn’t, so when they heard shuffling sounds again they dared not breath or move. Blade held up his knife for protection.

“ _Jester?!_ ” they heard Tunneler call out. Lightning showing his position. He was standing close to the shadow.

“ _Tunneler!_ ” Jester shouted before the shadow lit up his eyes and roared again. The roar startled Tunneler but he wasn’t scared of it.

“ _I found the source Pin!_ ” he shouted and then called out for Blade and Jester.

Jester refused to leave Blade’s side, at least that’s what he told himself, and called out to Tunneler again. Tunneler eventually found his way over to them.

“ _We found a way inside the cabin. Six sent me and Pin down to find you guys._ ” Tunneler said and helped Blade up to his feet.

“ _W-what about the roaring?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Just a toy._ ” Tunneler said. A light in the distance shone onto the shadow revealing it to be a green dragon toy. Its head was rubberized but the rest of the body was a solid hard plastic. The dragon’s eyes lit up and roared again, its head moving in a circle. After the second roar the eyes went off and the head remained still. The eyes lit up again and the dragon started moving forwards a few steps before it stopped completely.

Tunneler looked at Jester with a smile, not saying anything.

“ _I’m not going anywhere near it._ ” Jester stated and crossed his arms.

“ _Well, we’re gonna have to. There’s an easy path that leads to the inside of the cabin._ ” Tunneler said and started walking. “ _There’s also a fireplace if you want to get warm._ ” he added to coax the little puppet.

Jester remained where he stood for a moment, stomped his foot then grudgingly followed his brothers.

Behind them in the dark and above their heads were four pairs of eyes watching their every move. It followed them all the way to the entrance not making a sound, even as they entered the cabin.


	2. The Cabin

Jester crawled through the opening first to help Blade through then Tunneler climbed up after them and helped Jester carry Blade over to the fireplace.

Pinhead threw a log in the grate and Torch lit it with his flamethrower. Pinhead threw another log in and Torch added more flames for each log thrown in and soon there was a roaring fire.

The fire revealed a quaint room with a coffee table and an old, dark red 1920 style couch with a matching skirt and crocheted throw pillows. Next to the fireplace was an entertainment center that held a 64’’ flat-screen TV. The fireplace mantle held a few pictures and knick-knacks. There was a potted plant on its right and to its left was the kitchen. The kitchen had a wooden table, two wooden chairs, the stove about ten feet behind it, a pastel green refrigerator designed to look like an old ice box left of the stove, counter space and a deep sink with a tall cane-shaped faucet right of the stove and cabinets above, then there was a dark hallway. . . . Bu-u-t there was time to roam around later.

Jester set Blade down gently and then went over to the wood pile to search for anything to make a splint, but all he found was small broken chips and “tree fur”, nothing helpful to bind Blade’s fractured leg.

Six Shooter grabbed a couple of throw pills from the couch and brought them down for them to lie on. Climbing up onto the couch would be too much for Blade.

Pinhead and Torch placed Decapitron’s casket near the fireplace to let it dry while Tunneler inspected the inside as well as the inanimate puppet inside to make sure he wasn’t too damaged.

While they were busy, Blade inspected his leg the best he could with his knife and hook.

Jester returned to Blade's side and sat down felling miserable.

“ _What’s the matter?_ ” Blade asked quietly.

“ _I couldn’t find anything to make a splint._ ” Jester answered.

“ _It’s fine, Jess, don’t worry about that. But could you help me see the damage?_ ” Blade asked, tugging at his trouser leg.

Jester pushed the cloth up to his knee and both saw a long fracture all along the whole limb. It was widest near the ankle, practically split in two, and narrowed towards the knee. The ankle didn’t look too good either and Jester tried tugging the boot off as best he could without hurting Blade too much, but feared he would pull the whole foot off if he kept it up.

“ _Well, we can’t look at your ankle without ripping your foot off._ ” Jester said with a sigh and lied down on Blade’s left and curled up, putting his head on Blade's chest. Blade allowed the closeness and put his hook around the little puppet to bring him closer, resting his head on Jester's and they soon both fell asleep.

“ _Well, Decapitron isn’t too badly damaged, just a loose head, but all in all he’s fine._ ” Tunneler said closing the casket. “ _Let’s have a look around the place._ ” he suggested and the four of them split up in pairs, Pinhead and Tunneler headed to the kitchen while Torch and Six Shooter went down the hallway.

Torch used his eyes to light up the darkened hallway, not that it lit much, but it was enough. The brief flashes of lightning helped to locate a few rooms thanks to the small space between the bottom of the doors and the floor. It was from the lightning flashes that they discovered how many rooms the cabin had and all had their doors closed. Oddly enough, the bathroom was the exception, its door was wide open, letting the cold monsoon season pour in.

“ _Ain't nothing down here ‘cept the cold._ ” Six said, shivering and rubbed his six arms. “ _I’m going back to the fireplace._ ”

Torch didn’t hear a word Six said nor did he particularly care nor notice that Six had returned to the warm living room. He was staring into the dark bathroom, focusing on something that he just knows is there. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something told him they were not alone in the cabin. He sensed that the moment he stepped foot in the under-space. He didn’t bother telling the others about this because he didn’t think they would believe him. They only knew he was hot headed and loved to burn things, that was all he was willing to allow them to see.

Truth was he felt out of place among them, like he didn’t belong. He had often heard of the others reminiscing of their past lives when they used to be human, but he had no such recollection, all he could remember was the old dead man that had brought him to life and that he had animal brains inside him. The others knew what it felt like to be loved and cared for, and would worry about one another. They didn’t feel that way towards him, never really bothered to get to know him as a person or treat him like a real brother.

~ _Is that him? The one that throws flames?_ ~

~ _Yes, indeed, though I have yet to find out his name._ ~

Torch aimed his flamethrower towards the noise, to his right, and lit a small flame ready to torch them.

“ _Show yourself!_ ” he growled.

~ _Do you think he can hear us?_ ~

“ _Of course I can hear you!_ ” he shouted.

“ _Torch, what’s the matter? What’s going on?_ ” He heard Tunneler shout from the hall.

~ _Ah, so Torch is his name._ ~ He heard a voice say and then the sound of slithering. ~ _Mr. Torcher-man, catch you later._ ~ said another in a playful tone and also slithered away. “ _Hey! Get back here!_ ” Torch growled and tried to follow them, but the bath tub stopped him. He growled in frustration and headed back to the fireplace.

When he got there Torch punched the stone wall of the fireplace so hard he caused a small picture frame to fall and shatter its glass. He didn’t bother with it just kicked it away from him. The frame flew towards Pinhead who caught it and looked at the picture. It was of two people, one wearing a black flat-top fedora, had short bright green hair, bright blue eyes and was wearing a big smile, had his/her arms around the shoulders of another that was wearing dark sunglasses, had long purple or pink hair and was wearing a black turtleneck, also smiling.

“ _Shh, keep it down, you’ll wake Blade and Jester._ ” Six reprimanded and started gathering the broken glass shards. Torch just growled and slumped down, crossed his arms and sulked.

“ _These must be the owners of the cabin._ ” Pinhead said and handed the picture to Tunneler. 

“ _Could be, this could also be their honeymoon cabin._ ” Tunneler said, Six grabbed the picture and laid it down in front of the fireplace so they could all see it.

“ _And what makes you think they’re married?_ ” Six Shooter asked.

“ _Look how this one’s arms are wrapped around the other’s shoulders._ ” Tunneler said, pointing.

“ _They could be best friends._ ” Pinhead suggested.

“ _Nah, the smiles don’t match that of friends._ ” Six stated, rubbing his chin.

Torch tuned out his brothers and looked over at the other two sleeping in each other’s arms. ‘ _Ri-i-ght, and brothers don’t show the same affection._ ’ he thought sarcastically. Then he heard quiet giggling from above.

~Married? Brothers married? To each other no less!~

~ _The footnote describes the picture, why don’t they have a look at that?_ ~

~ _Maybe they can’t read._ ~ Torch chuckled at that one, getting the others’ attention.

“ _What’s so funny?_ ” Tunneler asked.

Torch immediately shut up and looked away. “ _Nothing._ ”

Six looked between Pinhead and Tunneler, both shrugged and went back to pondering about the picture.

~ _Seriously? Why can’t they just get another picture and have a look at that one?_ ~

~ _Pictures, bah! Just give them the whole photo album!_ ~

~ _How come they don’t include Torcher-man in the guessing game?_ ~ Torch quietly growled at that one.

~ _Why don’t he just join himself?_ ~ Torch flared his eyes.

~ _Maybe he’s antisocial._ ~

Torch was having enough of the whispers talking about him and got up and stormed out down the hallway.

“ _Torch, where are you going?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Leave him be, he’s just in a mood._ ” Six said and stood to stretch before heading over to a pillow and lying down, pulling his hat over his eyes to fall asleep.

Torch headed back to the bathroom, found a secluded spot where no one would see him but he could, sat down, brought his knees up and placed his arms around them and just sat there lost in his thoughts until the gentle pattering rain on the roof eventually put him to sleep.


	3. Day's Happening pt 1

The storm had subsided by the time Blade and Jester woke up. The dark blue outside indicated that they had slept all night, and that the fire had gone out. Blade sat up and stretched his sore joints to the best he could with a fractured leg and broken ankle, stirring Jester some more who also sat up and stretched his wooden limbs. Jester looked around and saw that the others had fallen asleep on the rest of the pillows but he couldn’t see Torch.

“ _Where’s Torch?_ ” Blade asked, also noticing the pyro puppet was missing.

“ _I’ll go look for him._ ” Jester said and stood up, stretched his back and looked around the living room, climbed up on the couch and even in the cupboards in the kitchen but couldn’t find his fire loving brother. “ _I can’t find him._ ” he said, helping Blade scoot closer the pillow they used last night. “ _You really think you should be moving around with that injury?_ ” he asked.

“ _The pillow keeps sliding away from me._ ” Blade said and leaned against the leg of the coffee table while Jester moved the pillow to a more stable area.

Pinhead had woken up next and after talking with Blade went to help Jester with the pillow then helped Blade over to it.

“ _Have you seen Torch anywhere?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _He stormed off down the hallway last night._ ” Pinhead answered with a shrug.

“ _(sigh) I wonder what makes him so moody._ ” Blade said mostly to himself then spotted the broken glass piled by the fireplace. “ _What happened there?_ ” he asked, pointing.

Pinhead turned and spotted the glass as well. “ _Oh, Torch punched the wall and a picture fell._ ” Pinhead answered and left to get the picture, handing it over to Jester for him and Blade to inspect.

With the sun rising and the cabin getting brighter with each passing minute, Tunneler and Six Shooter were soon up and Blade sent Tunneler and Pinhead with Jester to go down the hall and look for Torch.

“ _So how many rooms in the cabin?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _There are four rooms with closed doors and a bathroom._ ” Six answered.

“ _The bathroom door wasn’t closed?_ ” Blade asked, Six just shrugged. “ _Well, what were in the other rooms?_ ” 

“ _We didn’t check, it was just a quick once over._ ” Six said.

Meanwhile, Tunneler and Jester had opened some of the doors to the closed rooms looking for Torch. Two of the rooms were bedrooms, one was a library/study and the one they were currently looking through looked to be a hobby room. There was a shelf that held bottles of liquids, some with glitter settled at the bottom of their containers, others were just different colors, mostly yellow, and beakers around a complete chemistry set were on a table. This room also had a small day bed.

“ _I don’t think he’s in any of these rooms Jess, we would’ve heard a door close._ ” Tunneler said, standing up from looking under the bed and dusting himself.

“ _Maybe he closed them quietly?_ ” Jester asked, uncertain and jumped down from the bed.

“ _Don’t really think so, but then again we don’t know Torch very well, do we?_ ” Tunneler said and they headed to next room.

Pinhead crouched down for Tunneler to climb up on his back and then Jester climbed up Tunneler and stood on his shoulders to reach the door knob. He gave a turn but it didn’t open. He jiggled it a few more times. “ _It’s locked._ ” he said and jumped down and tumbled forward.

Tunneler jumped down from Pinhead’s back and Pinhead stood up. “ _That only leaves the bathroom._ ” Pinhead stated.

.

~ _Make haste! The Kid said something wicked this way comes!_ ~

~ _Send the raptors to find and guard the energy source. Hurry with the harness people, we’ve got to retrieve it before the sun rises!_ ~

Torch stirred from the yelling he was hearing.

~ _We’re all set!_ ~

~ _Let’s move! Move! Move!_ ~

“ _Shut up, I’m trying to sleep._ ” Torch grumbled.

“ _There he is!_ ” He heard Tunneler say and groaned inwardly.

“ _What do you guys want? Whatever it is you’re going to get, leave me out._ ” Torch said and shifted away from them.

“ _Kinda hard to do when you’re the one we’re getting._ ” Jester said with a little humor and tried to get Torch to come out of the little space between the wall and the tub.

Torch was wide awake when he heard a song-like wail.

“ _What was that?_ ” Pinhead asked, scratching his head.

“ _I don’t know, let’s go back to the living room and see if the others heard it too._ ” Jester said and tugged on Torch’s boots, trying to get him to come along.

“ _Let go! I’ll get out on my own!_ ” Torch growled, but the truth was he felt rusty having spent the whole night in the cold bathroom and if he moved too fast he knew that his gears would squeak and groan. Plus he felt sore from not having moved at all last night, he felt like his whole body was Charlie horsin’.

“ _Oh, I see, you’re stuck, aren’t you?_ ” Tunneler said and helped Jester to pull Torch out from his hiding spot.

“ _I am not! Now let go of me!_ ” Torch shouted and aimed his flamethrower in their direction to get them to back off. “ _Just give me five minutes and I’ll be right out, ok?_ ”

“ _Ok, five minutes._ ” Jester said. “ _And if you’re not in the living room in five minutes I’m sending Pinhead and Six after you with a wet towel._ ” he warned and let Torch have his privacy.

Torch eased his way out from his spot slowly until he was able to extend his arms properly and stretched them. Then he crawled out on all fours, which he didn’t want any of them to see, and then stretched his legs one at a time. Then he laid down on his stomach and stretched his aching limbs in every direction, this time getting a little creak from them and then stood up and turned his back both way. Hearing a gear snap back in place he shook himself and left the bathroom.

.

When he entered the living space he could hear Blade arguing with Six Shooter.

“ _You’re not physically fit to look after yourself and Jester was the leader before you were even born._ ” said Six.

“ _Then I’ll have Pinhead carry me on his back if I have to! No one is to go outside for any investigation unless I’M going!_ ” replied Blade.

“ _Blade, maybe we could send Torch?_ ” Jester suggested.

Torch stopped in his tracks and looked at the little puppet.

“ _And set the forest on fire? Are you nuts?_ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Jess, just because Torch can scare anything off with his menacing growl doesn’t mean we leave him without backup._ ” Blade said.

“ _What are you guys on about?_ ” Torch asked and leaned against the fireplace with his arms crossed and one leg over the other.

“ _Guys, that thing is coming back._ ” Pinhead said, looking out the window.

“ _What thing?_ ” Torch asked and headed over to the window to see what Pinhead was staring at. He climbed up on a window seat and saw without moving the thin curtains that something large was heading their way.

“ _What the fuck is that?_ ” he asked in a whisper.

“ _It came out of the garage about five minutes ago._ ” Pinhead answered.

“ _What? Let me see._ ” piped Jester and climbed up and stood next to Torch. But unlike Torch he couldn’t see through the curtain very well, but he could sneak a peek. And he gasped. “ _What is that?_ ”

Then Six and Tunneler came up and looked out the window as well.

Blade felt a little left out, not being able to move, so he sat there and pouted. “ _What does it look like?_ ” he asked after a few seconds.

“ _It has a long neck, about maybe four feet tall . . ._ ” said Jester. “ _four legs, and . . . is that our trunk?!_ ”

~ _Careful, gently now, we don’t want to spook the man._ ~

Torch turned around and saw two large very, VERY large spiders descending on Blade.

“ _Watch out!_ ” he shouted and threw flames at them. Blade ducked just in time before his face burned off.

~ _Whoa!_ ~

~ _Quick, hide!!_ ~

He saw the spiders quickly scurry towards the kitchen and he followed after them but the sound of loud, high-pitched beeping stopped him and then there was nothing but white, cold fog spraying down from the ceiling.

When it stopped the whole living room and kitchen and the puppets were covered in the white substance. The only places that weren’t were the underside of the coffee table, kitchen table, couch and chairs.

“ _Torch! What the hell?! You almost burned my face off!_ ” Blade shouted, waving his arms around. “ _Now I’m covered in this . . . this -- this -- stuff! Blech!_ ” 

“ _You think you’ve got it bad? This stuff got under my drill!_ ”

“ _I can’t get my guns out!_ ”

“ _. . .I-I’m cold._ ” mumbled Jester, shivering and hugging himself.

Pinhead looked back at his brothers, his head, front and forearms the only place that were clean and dry. “ _What happened?_ ” he asked.

Torch, meanwhile, was searching the kitchen looking for any possible escape routes for the spiders to crawl through. He knew some spiders were big, but these two seemed impossibly huge. There was no way they could actually grow to that size naturally, could there?

Finding no space for two gigantic spiders to hide, he kicked the stove and stormed back to the fireplace, shook himself free from most of the flame retardant and sat down with a ‘humph!’ and crossed his arms.

“ _Torch, care to explain why you decided to fry my face?_ ” Blade called from the couch, his faded black coat and hat now as snow white as his face. He practically disappeared into the couch now and would have been completely invisible if it weren't for the black empty eye sockets.

“ _There were spiders behind you._ ” Torch growled in answer.

“ _Spiders?!_ ” squeaked Jester and he scrambled up the couch to be near Blade.

“ _Spiders? You nearly burn the place down for spiders?_ ” Blade nearly shouted.

“ _They were huge! Bigger than Six Shooter!_ ” Torch snarled. “ _And apparently this cabin has a built-in fire alarm system so don’t get your threads in a twist._ ”

“ _Oh don’t exaggerate! Spiders don’t grow two feet tall!_ ”

Blade and Torch continued to argue while Jester, Tunneler and Six watched them, Pinhead went back to looking outside and noticed a silver car driving up a dirt road, then slowed down and turned towards the cabin!

“ _Car!!_ ” he shouted and jumped off the window seat. Blade and Torch went quiet and panicked as they heard the car engine approaching. Jester and Tunneler helped Blade down from the couch and hid under it, Six Shooter ran towards the potted plant, Pinhead turned his back and crouched low near a window and Torch ran down the hallway and towards the bathroom.

The door knob jiggled and the door opened.


	4. Chug Yamazaki

Chug Yamazaki, a.k.a The Kid, was driving out to his cabin in the woods for a quick rest stop. He had been driving for six hours and was really looking forward to just falling down on the couch and sleep. His alarm and security systems had been going on and off since late last night and his guards had informed him of six small intruders. He checked his video footage and found what appeared to be dolls, or puppets, hand carved that were alive.

He knew they were alive because scanners showed that neural energies were emanating from all six of them. Strangely enough, only one of them could be understood. Chug had sent messages to his head security to find out whatever they could about them. 

So far, all he had found out were their names, one was injured and the one he could understand had a bit of a temper. Though even that looked put on.

Then his scanners showed another problem. Negative energies were building up around his cabin enough to make a small portal. He scanned the fields for possible positive energies that would counter the negative ones and found a similar but very small amount of positive energy not far from his cabin. He messaged ahead and notified all guards to find and secure the positive energy and told them about the negative ones that were building up.

He decided to head there in the morning so got a four hour sleep for the six hour drive.

Of course, when he finally arrived and opened the door he didn't expect the place to be covered in flame retardant dust.

“Somebody’s been playing with matches.” he mumbled, yawned and headed to his room instead while texting on his phone.

.

The puppets all remained quiet and as still as possible when the newcomer entered. Six Shooter immediately recognized him from the photograph they were looking at last night.

But before any of the puppets could come out of their hiding spaces, the living room became swarmed with spiders and snakes. Then he heard squeaking and looked towards the kitchen to see some mice and rats. A large snake, a python, dropped from the ceiling and landed on the table with a heavy thud then started hissing, getting the spiders, rodents and other snakes’ attention.

It hissed loudly and used its tail to point at a group of tarantulas and hissed at them, then pointed at a group of small green snakes and then at a group of large rats and hissed. It seemed like it was communicating with them. Afterwards, all the groups dispersed; the tarantulas, green snakes and four of the largest rats went towards the small opening they had come through last night and disappeared. Then some dark brown snakes with brown spots along their backs and about ten of the rodents all headed down the hallway, the rest remained in the kitchen and started disappearing into the cabinets and cupboards only to re-emerge with brooms, dusters and dustpans. Then the large python jumped back up to the ceiling and disappeared.

.

~ _The Kid wants this place cleaned as quick as possible. The negative energies have been disabled for the moment but are starting to build again near the garage. Whatever this energy is after, it has become clear that they want the energy from inside the trunk! So, Arachnids, you have trapping and sensory duty outside. Jerry, Martin, Tim and Turner go with them. Gardeners, take surveillance with the raptors. Boas and rats to the chemistry lab and start mixing jello and instant freeze for the traps underside. The rest of you start cleaning, I have to head back to the garage._ ~

.

Torch peeked out from his hiding spot and saw a group of snakes and rats enter the bathroom and enter a cupboard under the sink, talking about making jello and some instant freeze.

~ _Check the scorpions’ inventory while you’re at it so we can be sure they have enough ammunition. Jessie will be sending a sample of the green stuff we found in the trunk for analysis._ ~ He heard a black snake say, while a mouse was writing down everything it was saying. A small yellow snake with blue eyes closed the cupboard door and then the sound of something similar to an elevator descended and then all was quiet.

‘Shit! The formula!’ he thought and squirmed his way out from his spot to tell the others that their formula was found but stopped dead when a hidden door trapped him. The intruder closed the other door, locked it, started the bath and then proceeded to undress.

.

Six Shooter was watching, amazed at these creatures. Some of the mice were using small feather dusters to sweep up the white dust from the counter tops, a snake and two rats were using a small portable vacuum (dust buster) to clean the couch, some snakes were using a small dust broom to sweep the carpet, some rats and a few other snakes held dustpans, all hissing and squeaking at each other.

He watched some snakes coil up fast, gathering the dust into a pile and then scooping it up and placing it in a grocery bag.

.

Meanwhile, under the couch . . . .

“ _Well, it looked like Torch wasn’t lying about the spiders._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _That may be, but I didn’t see any gigantic ones that were bigger than Six._ ” Blade said.

“It shouldn’t really be a surprise anyway, I mean we’re in a cabin in the woods. There’s bound to be spiders and snakes crawling all over the place.” Tunneler said as a snake with a Dust Buster passed by.

“ _Yeah, intelligent spiders and snakes._” Blade hissed.

.

In the bathroom . . . .

Torch was starting to get frustrated by the newcomer who had put on some music while he soaked in the tub. It became apparent when he heard some splashing before the newcomer entered the tub that he was having a bubble bath. He groaned inwardly, wanting to get out of here soon, or at least bang his head on something. Then he heard what sounded like a vacuum cleaner coming from the living room.

“Jessie, do you have a reading of the negative energies?”

Torch went silent.

“ . . . Ok, send it off to Kegs so he can compare them to the ones he found at Bodega Bay. Then do a global timeline reading to see if it came up anywhere else before. Any luck on the green stuff you found? . . . . Organic? . . . . Fascinating. . . . Ok, break down its composition to find out for sure and then see if you can duplicate its basics. After we’ve dealt with the negative build up we’ll experiment with it, see if it’s compatible with any of my own. I could use a major distraction.”

‘ _We’re fucked. We are so fucked._ ’ Torch thought, burying his head in his arms.

.

Two hours and forty-five minutes later. . . . 

The puppets were finally able to come out of their hiding places when the cleaning crew left. Jester and Tunneler crawled out from under the couch and helped Blade. Six Shooter shuffled out from the behind the plant and Pinhead stood up and turned around to face his brothers, causing Jester to laugh.

“ _Pinhead, you have dust all over your back side._ ” Tunneler said and started dusting Pinhead.

“ _Guys, you should have seen what I did!_ ” Six exclaimed excitedly, jumping out from behind the potted plant and scaring they daylights out of them, then proceeded to tell them about the large python giving orders to a bunch of spiders, snakes and rodents.

“ _A python giving orders to bugs and rats?_ ” Blade asked, a bit skeptic.

“ _I’m serious. It landed on the table and started hissing and pointing at the groups and then jumped up and took off._ ” Six said.

“ _Snakes can’t jump._ ” Blade said and turned around to climb up the couch when a large hairy spider dropped out of nowhere, snatched him up and took off, his hat spinning off his head.

“ _BLADE!!_ ”


	5. Capture and Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly dialogue, and told from different perspectives, but it's all one scene.

Blade didn’t know how he had gotten himself into this situation, tangled up in a spider’s web and hung upside down, how embarrassing. What was worse was that apparently Torch was correct in saying he saw two gigantic spiders that were after him.

His capture had led him to realise that there was more to this cabin than he realised. For one, there were hidden tunnels and passageways in the ceiling. The spiders that had caught him brought him to the garage where he found Toulon’s trunk wide open and its contents on desks and shelves. He also found the elixir sitting near a chemistry set and some snakes and rats were analyzing it.

He wriggled around again to try and get his blade free so he could cut himself loose but this was spider’s web for crying out loud! The damn stuff was super sticky! At least they left his head free.

He looked down below him and spotted the large python Six had talked about earlier. Six was also right about that. The large python slithered up to the elixir and the screen that had its readings. It hissed at a smaller snake that was swirling a sample bottle before handing it over to the python. The python swirled it a few times, flicked its tongue out, smelling it and then peered at it at a higher angle before giving it back to the small snake, hiss and slithered away.

Blade watched the small snake place the same bottle next to another one with a label on it and then pour some kind of powder inside both of them. The little beakers began to bubble and emit the dense white smoke that showed the elixir was complete. At least that’s what Jester had told him when Toulon first brought Leech Woman to life.

He didn’t remember any smoke from the formula he learned how to make when Dead Toulon was brought back. Maybe that was a variant. He continued to watch as the small snake took the labeled beaker and poured half of its contents into an empty vial, set it aside and brought another labeled beaker and poured half of its contents into the previously empty vial, cork the mixed vial and then tossed it to a group of snakes. The group of snakes tossed the vial around, spun around with it and overall just played with it for a spell before tossing it back to the small snake.

‘ _What was the point of that?_ ’ he thought.

The small snake uncorked the vial, grabbed a dropper and gathered a few drops of the new mix and slithered over to a microscope where a couple of mice looked through and were using their tails to adjust the scope.

‘ _What the devil are they doing?_ ’

One of the mice squeaked at the small snake who slithered back to the unlabeled smoking beaker with a new dropper.

Before it could do anything though, the large python returned, hissed at the small snake which continued with its work, and the python hissed loudly at a darkened part of the lab.

One of the spiders that had captured him appeared and the python hissed at them, flicking its tongue. The spider hissed back and the two conversed before the spider finally turned around and went back in the shadow. Then Blade saw it climb up the wall and head straight for him and he began to panic. Was he going to be a test subject for their mixed elixir?

The webbed string he was hanging from was cut and he fell for a second before he was rolled up again and secured to another string and dragged back through the passageways.

.

Fifteen minutes after the living room was cleaned . . . . .

Torch was relieved when the newcomer finally drained the tub and stepped out. He was so much closer to freedom. But then a large python emerged from the under the sink and raised itself.

~ _So far the tests have been proving positive on the duplication process but it’s very basic and I was recently informed that the injured one was captured._ ~ it said with a female voice.

“Captured how?” the new-comer asked, wrapping a towel around his waist and then toweling his hair.

~ _One of the twins performed a snatch job._ ~

“Snatch job?! Which twins and who did the snatching?”

~ _Ariana and Devlin. Devlin pulled the stunt._ ~

“Why a snatch job?”

~ _They wanted to fix his ankle, but the one called Torch scared them off._ ~

“Torch?”

~ _He throws flames from his right arm._ ~

“Awesome. And the others?”

~ _Jester, Six Shooter, Tunneler and Pinhead._ ~

“The injured one?”

~ _Blade. I believe he is the leader of the group and this Torch fellow appears to be able to understand us._ ~

“Ok, well send the injured one, Blade, was it? back and locate this Torch fellow and tell him of the twins intentions but stave off any fighting with them.”

The snake bowed and turned back to the sink.

“Jessie, Blade isn’t wrapped up in the web is he?”

~ _Uh, probably. But I’m sure it was for safety reasons on both sides. Blade doesn’t have hands, just a knife and hook._ ~

“A knife and hook? Are the others’ name choices in a similar fashion?”

~ _Yes, all quite obvious._ ~

“Well then, shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who’s who then. Off with you now.”

The snake slithered under the sink and disappeared.

Torch was stunned. They were being watched the whole time?! And what was this duplication process they were talking about? Was it the formula? And the spiders wanted to help?

He was distracted when he heard yelling coming from the living room that soon led here.

~ _Boss! The others won’t let me return him! They keep attacking me!_ ~

“Well, what’d you expect? You snatched up their friend and carried him off and pretty much held him prisoner.”

~ _But I wasn’t!_ ~

“That’s not how they see it. They can’t understand anything you say, except maybe that Torch fellow.”

~ _Who’s Torch?_ ~

“The one with the flamethrower.”

~ _Oh! He nearly burnt me and Dev earlier this morning._ ~

“How often to I have to tell you to look at things from another’s perspective? Put yourself in their shoes and try to think and react like them.”

~ _. . . . Oh, my bad._ ~

“Where is Blade, anyway? You didn’t leave him hanging from the ceiling in the living room, did you?”

~ _No, he’s still behind me._ ~

“(si-i-i-gh) Hand him over.”

“ _Put me down! You wait til my brothers get a hold of you! If I wasn’t injured I’d slash you into a million pieces!_ ”

Torch looked up from his hiding spot and saw Blade completely wrapped up in a cocoon and being lowered down from the ceiling, wriggling and throwing a fit.

The newcomer put some gloves on and grabbed Blade and placed him in the sink then headed to a cabinet above the toilet and brought out a hair dryer. Torch couldn’t help but laugh, Blade looked ridiculous.

Chug immediately turned around upon hearing the laughter and spotted Torch hiding in the space between the tub and the wall.

“ _Torch! Get over here and get me outta this mess! Fry the guy! Do something!!_ ”

Chug watched Blade wriggle around in the sink hissing like crazy.

.

In the hallway . . .

Jester could hear someone talking in the bathroom and motioned everyone to gather at the door, all poised to attack.

“Well what did you expect? You snatched up their friend and pretty much held him prisoner.”

(Hiss!)

“That’s not how they see it. They can’t understand anything you say, except maybe that Torch fellow.”

Jester raised his hand to stop their attack and listened in instead.

“The one with the flamethrower.”

(clicking noises)

“How often to I have to tell you to look at things from another’s perspective? Put yourself in their shoes and try to think and react like them.”

( _. . . . click, click_ )

“Where is Blade, anyway? You didn’t leave him hanging from the ceiling in the living room, did you?”

( _Click. Clickity click-click_ )

“(si-i-i-gh) Hand him over.”

“ _Put me down! You wait til my brothers get a hold of you! If I wasn’t injured I’d slash you into a million pieces!_ ” The four puppets heard Blade shout. They soon heard Torch laughing.

“ _Torch! Get over here and get me outta this mess! Fry the guy! Do something!!_ ”

.

Back in the bathroom . . . .

“Find something amusing, little fella?” Chug asked, placing the hair dryer on the sink’s counter.

“ _Blade, you look ridiculous!_ ” Torch chuckled and finally crawled out of his spot.

Chug looked at the sink. “Oh, so you’re Blade.”

Then there was pounding on the bathroom door along with grunts, groans and . . . what sounded like a cat, or some cooing . . . . A little black gloved hand holding a gun snuck in under the door and fired off a few rounds.

Chug climbed onto the toilet to protect his feet.

“So, can you tell your little friends not to attack me if you tell them that I can get you out of the web?” he asked, looking at Blade.

Blade hissed at him angrily and wriggled around.

“Look, this is spider webbing here, and from a fairly big one at that. The only thing that can break through that many layers is heat. I was going to use the hair dryer, but you might not like it, so perhaps a hair straightener?”

Blade hissed again, more angry and wriggled some more.

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Chug said, crossing his arms and legs.

Torch finally gathered his breath and stood up and walked over to the newcomer. “ _Why not just bathe him in hot water?_ ” he asked.

“Oh no, water would make the webbing even more sticky.”

Blade stopped glaring at the person in front of him and hissed.

“ _He can talk to snakes and spiders._ ” Torch shouted back defensively.

“Well that’s because they’re part of the animal kingdom. The spiders, I inserted a neural chip to read on the same wavelength as an animal.” Chug said.

Blade started hissing again and wriggled around some more.

“You keep up that wriggling and you’ll worsen your injury.” Chug said and grabbed his phone off the counter.

“ _Just what are you doing with our formula anyway?_ ” Torch asked.

“Not much, just playing around with it really.” Chug answered.

Blade hissed and started wriggling some more.

.

In the hallway . . . .

“Find something amusing, little fella?”

“ _Blade, you look ridiculous!_ ”

“Oh, so you’re Blade.”

“ _Blade! Torch! Hang on! We’re coming!_ ” Jester shouted and climbed up on Tunneler.

“ _Open the door or I’ll break it down!_ ” shouted Pinhead.

“ _Aha! Got one of my guns free!_ ” said Six Shooter and crouched down to look under the door and spotted a pair of feet, took aim and fired, but missed. The feet disappeared from view. “ _Crap, I missed!_ ”

“So, can you tell your little friends not to attack me if you tell them that I can get you out of the web?”

“ _Free me and I’ll slice your head open like a cantaloupe!_ ”

“Look, this is spider webbing here, and from a fairly big one at that. The only thing that can break through that many layers is heat. I was going to use the hair dryer, but you might not like it, so perhaps a hair straightener?”

“ _Tunneler, drill a hole through the door!_ ”

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

“ _Why not just bathe him in hot water?_ ” They heard Torch ask.

“Oh no, water would make the webbing even more sticky.”

Each of them stopped what they were doing and looked at each other.

“ _You can’t understand me but you can understand Torch?_ ” Blade questioned.

“ _He can talk to snakes and spiders._ ” Torch shouted back defensively.

“Well that’s because they’re part of the animal kingdom. The spiders I inserted a neural chip to read on the same wavelength as an animal.” Chug said.

“ _Someone kill this guy and get me out!!_ ”

“You keep up that wriggling and you’ll worsen your injury.”

“ _Just what are you doing with our formula anyway?_ ” Torch asked.

“Not much, just playing around with it really.”

“ _He has our formula?! Get me outta this thing!_ ”

“ _Cripes, what the hell is he doing with our formula?!_ ” Six shouted.

“ _If he has the formula does that make him our new master?_ ” Pinhead asked.

Everyone was silenced.

.

Bathroom . . . .

Torch looked at the door, then at the newcomer.

Blade stopped his wriggling, went silent and glared. ‘ _Fuck. . . ._ ’


	6. New Master? I Don't Think So

Jessie, a large seven foot long Burmese python, was watching the screen that recorded the energy readings Chug had told her to watch when a touch screen phone buzzed near her. It was a message from Chug.

-Stuck in bthrm w/ T and B. Others outside by door. Capture and contain. Relocate to lvng rm. . . . No webs.-

She didn’t have to reply, instead she called out to the room. ~ _I need volunteers for a capture job!_ ~

.

“ _Really Pinhead? You have to ask that now?_ ” Six asked in a huff.

“ _Well, I’m just asking. We cannot hurt the new master unless he does first and we have to obey him._ ” Pinhead said.

" _So what if he is our new master? He has Blade and Torch and Torch has obviously been won over so we need to rescue Blade!_ ” Six nearly shouted.

“ _I have not!_ ” shouted Torch.

They heard hissing behind them and turned around to see a group of snakes slithering up towards them, fast.

“ _We seem to have a bigger problem!_ ” Jester cried and the four separated to create confusion but it didn’t work. Jester was immediately captured into a glass container that spun out of the floor under his feet, a thick string of web shot down and carried him away. Tunneler fell through a trap door, Pinhead was attacked and wrapped up in snake coils and Six was shot with a net, binding his arms and legs. This all happened in the course of three seconds.

The snake holding Pinhead hissed and then the large python Six saw that morning slithered down from the ceiling and hissed at the door then went back in the ceiling. The door opened and out came the newcomer wearing gloves and was holding Blade in his hands with Torch following.

“ _I knew you were a traitor._ ” Six growled at Torch.

“ _Hey, I didn’t do that to Blade it was the spider!_ ” Torch snapped back.

“These your other friends?” the newcomer asked.

“ _Six Shooter and Pinhead._ ” Torch answered, waving his flamethrower arm at the two puppets.

“Well, let’s get them to the living room so they can see we mean no harm.” Chug grabbed hold of the snake coiled around Pinhead. “Would you mind grabbing him? I only have two hands.” he said.

“ _Well, I only have one._ ” Torch replied.

Torch looked at Six Shooter who glared back. “ _Don’t even think about touching me._ ” he snarled.

“ _S.O.L Six._ ” Torch said and dragged him by his collar.

Six heard hissing from above and then let out an “ _Oof!_ ” as a snake landed on him and hiss at Torch.

“ _Might as well get a chuckle out of it._ ” Torch said and let him go and stood against the wall, looking up.

Six looked up as well to see two more snakes drop down on him, one wrapped itself around his feet and linked up with the one that landed on him which raised its tail to link up with another from the ceiling and then the next he knew he was hoisted up and tossed down the hall only to be grabbed by another snake and tossed again.

Torch chuckled at Six’s yells and grabbed his hat off the floor to return it to him later.

Chug set Blade down on the table and turned to face the hallway as Six Shooter was tossed down, into the living room and then placed next to the rest of his friends. He could feel three of them glaring holes into him. The fourth one in the glass container had a sad face and was looking at the kitchen table with worry then at him. “I’m not going to hurt him. One of my professions is a doctor.” Chug said.

“ _One of your professions?_ ” Torch asked, heading over to the fireplace.

“Yeah, another is in Law Enforcement.” Chug said and entered his room.

“ _Is that all?_ ” Torch asked.

“No, I’m also Potions Master, dabble in alchemy, tinker around with junk and am into cybernetics.” Chug answered coming back with a bag and something similar to what Decapitron needed to be revived.

“ _Cybernetics? What’s that?_ ”

“Uh, a mixture of machine and living beings. You know, cyborgs.” Chug said, setting up the little metal table into a doctor’s chair and placed Blade in it, securing him with small straps. “This is so you don’t fall out of it.” he said to Blade.

Torch climbed up the chair and leaned on the table. “ _What are you going to use against the webs?_ ” he asked.

“I have a soldering tool that can melt some of the layers.”

“ _Melt?!_ ”

“Just enough for him to free himself. But I’m gonna do that after I fix his leg.” Chug said and opened up his bag and brought out all the necessary tools he needed. He plugged in his soldering tool and grabbed another chair out from a hidden closet and sat down and looked over at the four on the living room floor. “Hmm, Six and Pin you pointed out to me, so I’m going to guess the one with the drill on his head is Tunneler, which leaves Jester.” 

Jester still had his sad face on and was looking at Blade.

“Jess, if I let you out will you promise not to attack me? You could help with him if you like.” 

Jester nodded.

Chug got up, walked over and opened the container’s glass door. Jester cautiously stepped out and then ran over to the unoccupied chair and climb up as fast as he could and stood next to Blade. “Well, I’m going to get dressed. The solder should be done warming up when I come back.”

“ _Are you ok, Blade?_ ” Jester asked. 

“ _I’m wrapped in spider webs, strapped in a metal chair and about to have a TOOL that MELTS things placed on me. How do you think I feel?_ ” Blade snarled, wriggling in the chair.

“ _But he said he was a doctor. Maybe he can help you._ ” Jester said and reached for the webs.

“Don’t touch it!” shouted Blade, Chug and Torch.

“You’re gonna get stuck.” Chug said, dressed in a pair of light grey pants, a dark red button up shirt, black neck tie tied loosely and a black buttoned vest and he was wearing a black flat-top fedora on his head. He was also carrying something in his right hand.

“Forgot my screen.” he said, unplugged his solder and sat down. “I changed my mind about the solder but I did find a metal hairpin to use instead. Maybe you could lend me a hand as well Torch.”

“ _Me?_ ”

“Yeah, just heat up the tip and I’ll start cutting through the strands. Here Jess, you can gather the webbing.” Chug handed Jester a 12 inch long dowel.

Jester looked at Torch who shrugged and lit a small flame. Chug placed the tip of the hairpin in the flame until it glowed red and then started slicing through the webs like a hot knife through butter. 

“Place the dowel tip here and start rotating it.” he told Jester who followed and the webs started rolling onto the dowel like cotton candy. Blade’s right leg was free in a matter of seconds which brought a smile on Jester’s face. 

“There we go -- wow, that looks horrible.” Chug said, noticing the splintered wooden leg right away. “Torch, I’m gonna need that chair. Jester stand behind Blade. I need the elbow space.” Chug said and traded places with Torch. Chug dug around in his bag and brought out a rolled up tool kit which when unraveled revealed a surgeon’s precision tools. There was four different kinds of tweezers, a plastic vial of q-tips, a tiny bottle of some clear liquid, a scalpel, a couple of screw drivers with removable heads, and some other tools that look too foreign and two pairs of scissors. One had curved blades the other was straight. 

Then he brought up a metal dowel and started twisting it around the middle, then pulled it apart into two pieces, pressed a hidden button on the sticks and a transparent holo-screen came up. Then he held it over Blade’s freed leg and let it go. It remained in the air, astounding the three at the table. Chug grabbed the straight scissor and snipped away at Blade’s pants up to the knee where the fracture ended.

“What the blazes happened to you?” he mumbled.

“ _Decapitron fell on him._ ” Torch answered.

“Who?” Chug asked, not looking away.

“ _Decapitron. Well, his box did._ ”

“Box? Like a casket? A box people usually put dead people in.” Chug replaced the scissors and grabbed the curved ones and a pair of tweezers and started snipping at Blade’s shoe.

“ _Uh, yeah, I s’pose._ ” Torch shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.

“Must be quite heavy to cause this amount of damage. Jester, hold his foot. I need to squeeze hard.”

Jester moved around and held Blade’s foot. He could feel the pressure being applied to the scissors and winced when Blade hissed in pain.

“I’m sorry, but this is actual leather. Whoever made you guys sure did wonders.” Chug replaced the curved scissors, brought his hands up on the screen, bringing his two index fingers together and then drew them apart. The result was an enlargement of Blade’s foot. “Ok, you can let go, Jess.”   
Jester let go of Blade’s foot and moved back to watch.

Chug grabbed the scalpel and eased it inside the shoe by the heel, the flat surface was pressed against the foot, and the end of a tweezer under the foot where the arch would be. “This might hurt.” he warned and gently pried the shoe off and removed the shoe, getting a good look at the major damage. 

The ball joint that connected the leg to the foot was broken in half and the leg itself was actually splintered. There was a large crack at the base that traveled up the leg and stopped just before reaching the knee joint. His foot was also missing some splints.

“Ugh, talk about painful. Broken ankle indeed.” he mumbled.

Blade hissed in response and shot out the sharp points in his eyes.

“Don’t give me that dagger look. It had to be done. Now let’s see, broken ankle, obviously, fractured shin, and some broken tarsal and metatarsal bones. This leg needs replacement but I don’t have the time. The best I can do for now is insert some clay and cast it. Will that work?” he asked.

Blade hissed quietly.

“ _As long as he’s no longer confined to the couch or floor. So he says._ ” Torch said.

“Independent, is he? Well, a wheelchair would be out of the question anyway. Unless he wants someone to push him around.”

Blade looked appalled at the very thought.

“If you want the best work, where a cane will be necessary for you to walk again I’m gonna need to call in the medical arachnids.” Chug said.

“ _Huh?_ ” Torch asked.

“Spiders, and a scorpion.” Chug stated.

“ _The spiders I can understand. But a scorpion, what for?_ ” Torch asked.

“He’s a wielder.” Chug answered and started texting on his phone again. “I need some special rings to hold the cast in place. Now, would you like a metal cane, a metal pin, a metal toothpick, a fencing sword, a cutlass, or a katana for a cane?” he asked Blade, grabbing the metal pin he used earlier.

Blade hiss quietly.

“Or do you want to keep your blade?” Chug asked. 

Blade nodded.

“Ok, but you’re gonna have a slight hunch on account of it being an inch or or two shy of your full height.”

Blade hissed.

“You know for a leader, you’re acting very childish.”

Blade turned away in a huff.

~ _Hey Doc, we’re here!_ ~

Chug looked up and found a large brown house spider descending with a yellow scorpion. “Oh good, you’re here.”

Jester looked up and nearly screamed and hid under Blade’s chair.

Chug dug around in his bag again and brought out the clay and some actual medical bandages and set to work with the spider and scorpion. He rolled up some clay and placed it in the large fracture on the leg and around the broken ball joint and held it in placed while the spider wrapped it up with some gauze and held that in place before securing it with a self-adhesive gauze.

“Ready with the rings?” Chug asked. The scorpion skittered over, holding a pair of silver rings with rubies embedded in it in each claw and used its tail to press a ruby for the ring to open halfway and placed it near the knee and the ring closed, securing the wrapping even more. The scorpion repeated the process for the middle and near the ankle.  
“Rings secure. Shoe replacement and make it slightly bigger than this one to accommodate the cast.” Chug said, handing Blade’s sliced shoe to the scorpion. The scorpion and spider made quick work with the shoe and handed the new one back. Chug eased the shoe back on and sealed it up with a black ring.

“All done. That wasn’t so hard, now was it? And it only took (looks at watch) 30 minutes.”

Blade hissed and wriggled in his chair.

“Oh yeah, Torch, Jester, positions please.”

Five minutes later Blade was finally freed from the webs and, once the straps were released, practically leaped off the chair.

“You folks need some new clothes. I can bring out my trunk for you guys to pick.” Chug said and hastened to his room while Blade hissed furiously after him, waving his hook arm because he was leaning on Jester with his knife arm.

“ _Calm down, Blade, at least you can walk now._ ” Torch grumbled and hopped off the chair.

“ _And just how are Pin, Six and Tunneler suppose to get free when he’s busy picking fabrics to sew?_ ” Blade snarled.

The spider and scorpion looked at each other and left the table and headed in the captives direction.

“ _Blade! They’re coming towards us!_ ” Six shouted, getting the leader’s attention.

The pair headed towards Tunneler first, the spider crawled up the tank he was in and scurried around the top and then hoisted the scorpion up. It then used its tail to press a blue button, opening the tank.

The snake coiled around Pinhead started hissing and then slithered away from him and jumped on top of the coffee table and over the couch and disappeared. The spider and scorpion also scurried away from the freed pair towards under the couch.

“ _Hey! What about me?!_ ” Six shouted, wriggling in his net.

“ _It’s just a net. Untie it for crying out loud._ ” Torch growled and slumped against the fireplace’s stone wall.

Pinhead helped Six Shooter up on his feet and Tunneler untied it from the back. Six shook off the net and reached for his guns.

“ _Dang it, they’re still stuck!_ ” he grunted, pulling them as hard as he could.

Chug returned with a trunk as large as Toulon’s and opened it to reveal an assortment of clothes. “Alright, take your pick and I’ll be right back.” he said and went out the door.

“ _What do you think?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Seems harmless enough. Besides, we’re still covered in this white dust._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _Oh, I’ll go first._ ” Tunneler said in exasperation and rummaged through the clothes, spreading the dust some more and brought out a three piece suit. “ _Don’t really like suits._ ” he mumbled and put them back. They heard a switch click and he fell through. “ _Whoa-a-a, you guys gotta see this!_ ” he said and crawled inside.

Pinhead pushed some clothes aside, gasped and disappeared inside the trunk.

“ _Pin, look! Military outfits!_ ”

“ _This sweater is actually softer than mine!_ ”

Jester was helping Blade down from the table but the shouts coming from Tunneler and Pinhead was rousing his curiosity.

“ _Go on ahead, I’ll have Six help me down._ ”

Jester smiled and took off into the trunk! “ _Whoa! Blade, you gotta see this!_ ” he shouted excitedly. “ _JESTER OUTFITS!!!!!_ ”

“ _Alright, now I’m curious._ ” Six said and helped Blade down the chair and over to the trunk.

“ _Well, we might as well see what’s in there. You coming along Torch?_ ” Blade asked, looking over at the fireplace but Torch wasn’t there. “ _Torch?_ ” he called out. “ _Torch?_ ”

“ _He’s probably in another mood, just leave him be._ ” Six said and entered the trunk. “ _Holy-moley!_ ”

Blade looked around the room and spotted Torch standing on the window seat, looking out the window. “ _Torch, you coming in with us?_ ” he asked again.

“ _No._ ”

“ _Okay, . . . Is anything wrong?_ ”

“ _No._ ”

“ _Alright. Let us know when the kid returns._ ”

“ _Yeah._ ”

Blade narrowed his eyes. Something was off. . . . He shrugged and entered the trunk.


	7. Bigger on the Inside

The inside of the trunk was enormous. It was like a whole mansion. There were stairs, escalators and even an elevator. There was a lot of space to cover but his limp was making it a little hard to move around on his own. Maybe he should have taken up the kid’s offer for a cane, his knife was a little too short and caused him to hunch over.

He looked between an elevator that was only a few steps away to his left, and an escalator a couple feet away to his right. The elevator would allow him to walk a short distance but then there were the buttons to consider, while the escalator would give him a work out all he would have to do is stand and ride down, giving him the opportunity to look around.

But he also just came out of surgery, somewhat, and wasn’t suppose to be putting too much weight on his leg after such an ordeal. So he headed towards the elevator.

When he reached the ground floor Jester was the first to greet him by barreling through and knocking them both down.

“ _Blade, you made it! C’mere, I want to show you something!_ ” he said excitedly and dragged Blade down a hall.

“ _Jester! Jester, wait, my leg!_ ”

Jester stopped and sat him down in a deep blue wing-back chair.

“ _I know and I’m sorry but I really want to show you this!_ ” Jester smiled and brought out a long black trench coat. “ _I know you like yours because Father made it, but this one’s a lot darker than that one and the material feels nice too. But if you don’t like it, there’s a whole variety of them._ ” Jester said and placed it next to Blade.

“ _Alright, let’s try it on._ ” Blade said and allowed Jester to undo the buttons and remove his coat. He didn’t really want anything to do with the newcomer or his things, but if it made Jester happy he was willing. As he slid on the new coat he hated to admit that the fabric did feel nice.

“ _And look! There’s a black turtleneck just like yours. You could have your whole black ensemble again. I even found a black belt with a silver buckle._ ” Jester said, going on about the whole section.

Blade’s curiosity won him over and he let Jester pamper him.

.

Back with Torch . . . .

Torch was watching the newcomer going in and out of the garage gathering things and setting them up. There were about ten bird perches, each containing a food and water bowl, in a separate area were dog bowls all filled with meat. 

Not much later when everything was set up a pack of wolves came up and started eating, then some crows came in followed by a few falcons, two red-tailed hawks and a golden eagle. Torch watched as the newcomer interacted with all the animals and did what looked like a check up on all of them. He eventually found out that some of them had removable parts.

One wolf had a leg removed and went through a quick check up before the newcomer put it back. A crow had its head removed and also went through the quick check up and put back. Two wolves had their backs opened up, one falcon had its wings removed, the hawks had their chests opened and the eagle came apart entirely, all went through the check up and pieced back together.

This must be the cyb-a-netic-thing he talked about.

‘ _I want to be a cyborg._ ’ he thought longingly.

The animals appeared to be used to the whole thing because they didn’t attack him nor once put back together did it seem to affect their mobility. The newcomer even broke up a few fights between the wolves and then they were dismissed and then he gathered everything up and put them back in the garage.

He then headed to the car, sat in the driver’s seat for a second then rounded to the trunk of the car and disappeared. Torch kept watching and started to drum his little fingers on the window sill when ten minutes had passed.

.

In the ‘TARDIS’ trunk. . . .

Blade was looking at himself in a full-body mirror, looking at the new outfit Jester had picked out for him. New black slacks, polyester cotton black turtleneck, black belt with the silver buckle, new boots (the trouble they had removing the black ring) and the new black coat. All that was missing was his black fedora. There were other fedoras, all having names (“ _Who names their head gear?_ ” questioned Blade) but none of them were to his taste. Some were different colors, others were too big or too small.

But there was no doubt about the coat. It flowed easily enough that when he did a quick twirl for Jester, Jester wolf-whistled.

The coat only had six buttons going down just to the waist, the rest draping down all the way to his feet. The coat narrowed naturally at the waist, keeping his figure and had shoulder pads, squaring out his shoulders. The darkness of the coat looked so much better than his old one. He was seriously thinking about keeping it. 

“ _Whoa, nice coat._ ” said Tunneler, coming around a corner in his new uniform. It looked just like his old one (which was why he selected it) and his shoes were polished.

Pinhead came round in a new red cashmere turtleneck and grey pants with new black shoes. Six Shooter and Jester were the only ones still in their old clothes. Blade figured out Six’s problems, but he wondered why Jester didn’t pick out an outfit before.

“ _That is a nice coat._ ” Six said with a grin.

“ _Yeah, I s’pose it’s alright._ ” Blade said, looking in the mirror again. “ _Where’s your outfit, Jess?_ ”

“ _Uh, they weren’t to my taste. They were all too brightly colored._ ” Jester said, a bit embarrassed.

“ _Come on, what’s the real reason?_ ” Six questioned, nudging the little puppet in a teasing manner.

“ _They didn’t fit, and most were too girly and none of them had bells._ ” Jester pouted, crossing his arms.

“ _Well, if these were made by --_ ” began Pinhead.

“ _Don’t you go calling him master._ ” Blade warned.

“ _Uh, the . . . kid, maybe he can sew on some bells for Jester. Or even a whole new outfit._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _But then there’s whole thing about picking fabrics. Although red velvet is an easy definite._ ” Jester said.

“ _How ‘bout you go pick an already made outfit and ask the kid to sew on some bells?_ ” Six suggested, not wanting to get into such a female discussion.

“ _But none of the outfits have the trimmings like mine do._ ” Jester whined.

“ _Well then, . . . you’re just gonna have to deal with it._ ” Six replied.

“ _Jester, just go pick an outfit for now and I’ll ask Torch to ask the kid to have yours fixed and cleaned. Does that work for everybody?_ ” Blade asked, feeling his temper rise.

“ _Fine with me._ ” Six mumbled, shrugging his shoulders and headed towards the entrance.

“ _I s’pose that could work. But why does Torch have to ask?_ ” Jester whined.

“ _Because it seems the kid is able to understand him. And Six told me that he heard Torch talking to himself in the bathroom the first night as if he was shouting at someone else._ ” Blade said.

“ _You do have a point there._ ” Tunneler said. “ _When we first entered the cabin he was instantly on his guard._ ”

“ _That’s interesting. Well, you guys head back to the cabin, I’ll stay with Jess._ ” Blade said and they parted ways.

Jester led Blade further down the hall they were in and stopped at a very colorful section of clothing. There were jester hats all along the top shelf above the outfits. There was one with bells on it but the hat itself looked ridiculous with the way the tails were frozen in a curve. He knew Jester wouldn’t to be caught dead in such a hat.

He looked at the outfits and found that most of them were only binary colored. One was red and black, another was purple and green; blue and green, orange and black, orange and red, orange and yellow (which he hissed at and covered his eyes from its sheer brightness), purple and maroon, black and silver, gold and silver, black and blue, grey and black, there was just too many of those to catalog.

Across that section were outfits more like Jester’s. The main front of the shirts were one color and the sleeves were different, some had different patterns to them as well.

Jester selected a top that closely resembled his own and placed it on a bench in front of a mirror then sorted through some more clothes. The main part was the same red color and was velvet, the sleeves were purple with gold diamond patterns, there was even a gold frill around the neck and the end of the sleeves just like his, except there was no trimming with bells.

The next shirt to come out was forest green with darker sleeves that had a dull golden yellow diamond pattern but no trimming, made entirely out of felt. The next one was a dark blue almost black shirt with dark purple sleeves with silver stars on them with silver trimmings on the neck and wrists. Jester’s third choice was a shirt with a soft dark blue fine velvet shirt with space nebula silk sleeves and white fur trimming on the neck.

“ _Look, I can be a dragon._ ” Jester chuckled, pulling out a shirt with scales.

“ _Did you find yourself a pair of pants to go with the shirts?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Yeah, a few, but I’ll stick with these black ones._ ” Jester answered and brought out three pairs that were exactly the same as his own.

“ _Alright, well, get changed and then we’ll head back up._ ” Blade said as he sat down on the bench after Jester removed them and entered a dressing room.

.

The living room . . .

Six Shooter exited the trunk and leaned against it, contemplating about asking the kid for a possible custom made outfit. All the others got new outfits but he couldn’t due to his six arms. Sometimes he loved that fact, other times he cursed it, this was a cursing moment. He found some very nice western outfits in that trunk but they all had only two sleeves.

There was a section labeled ‘Tombstone’ that he liked best. There were black trench coats like Blade’s and black stetson hats. There was also an old Winchester rifle model that he wanted.

‘ _So not fair._ ’ he thought.


	8. The Ka-Knowledge/Bonding with Torch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of Andre's background concerning the world wars is speculation. I do know that in Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge, Andre mentions that after the war he couldn't stand the sight of blood, and I know he studied chemistry and medicine and that he used to teach the subjects - according to Major Krauss.

Chug was sitting at his desk that he had hidden away in the trunk of his car, looking over the information he had found out.

The new occupants in his cabin were puppets. They had been hand carved by a retired doctor from WW II named Andre Toulon who, after retirement, took his studies of anatomy into the artistic field and became a puppeteer. Andre had learned how to bring life to his puppets from an ancient Egyptian Sorcerer who admitted that he had stolen the magic from someone else.

Andre had loved all his puppets, calling them his friends and looked after them as a father would to his child. The friendly terms weren’t mere affectation for them either, they really were his friends. He knew each one personally before they died. 

The neural energies he found was explained when he learned that Andre Toulon had used the brain matter from his former friends and put them inside his puppets, recited some kind of incantation and gave them the Elixir of Life. 

Chug found some of the puppets former history as well. 

Pinhead was formally known as Herman Strauss who was a truck driver and was executed by the Nazis for smuggling food to the Jewish Ghetto. Jester was a Book Keeper named Hans Seidelman who loved to play tricks and practical jokes and was shot down by the Nazis. Why he was shot down he couldn’t find out. But Blade was quite interesting. He was a former doctor who worked for the Nazis, trying to reanimate life with dead soldiers. His former name was Hess, Dr. Hess.

He sent the information to his brother in California, along with the negative readings that, at the moment, were remaining stable.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed, rubbing his face. ‘I seriously need to get some sleep.’ he thought. ‘Or eat another Tootsie Roll.’ He got up, climbed out of his trunk, closed it and headed back to the cabin, spotting Torch and Pinhead through the window and waved at them.

“ _The kid’s coming back!_ ” Pinhead called and jumped down, Torch following at a slower pace.

All the puppets had emerged from the trunk by then. Jester had chosen an outfit that closely resembled his original but was still without a hat.

“Alright folks, I’m back. Did you get yourselves some new clothes?” Chug asked, getting a good look at them.

“Nice cashmere sweater, Pin, handmade, that was. (looks at Tunneler) Navy Colonel outfit, nice. (looks at Blade) Love the coat. Made the same one for my brother. In fact, that one’s the model. (looks at Six Shooter) Uh, I guess I have to make yours custom. (looks at Torch) Yours looks machine washable, so if you want a quick change, head inside and take your pick.”

Torch shook his head and headed down the hallway to the bathroom.

“Ok, I’ll be in in a moment.” 

~ _Boss! Boss!_ ~

Chug looked up to see one of the twin spiders coming down from the ceiling, causing Jester to faint. “What’s up?”

~ _Here’s scary-man’s hat. We tried to clean it without damaging it too much._ ~ it said, handing over a nearly white fedora and then climbed back up and disappeared.

“Well, looks like I’ll be busy for a spell. You guys can watch TV if you want. Keep yourselves busy in the living room. Movies are on the bookshelf over by the wall next to the window.” Chug said, bringing down the remote controls and headed to the bathroom.

“ _I got the remote!_ ” shouted Six Shooter and clambered up the couch. He quickly snatched the one labeled TV and pressed the on button.

Pinhead looked over to a bookshelf that held the DVDs and started to climb it to select a movie for them to watch. Tunneler moved Jester to under the coffee table and Blade tried to revive him.

“ _What does he have?_ ” Tunneler called out.

“ _Uh, let’s see . . . ‘Edward Scissorhands’?_ ” Pinhead called back.

“ _No._ ” Blade replied.

“ _’Corpse Bride’?_ ”

“ _No._ ” replied Six.

“ _’Sleepy Hollow’?_ ”

“ _Which one?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Johnny Depp._ ”

“ _No._ ” Tunneler replied.

“ _Batman? Batman Returns? Coneheads?_ "

“ _Shut up Six._ ”

“ _(chuckles)_ ”

“ _Tombstone?_ ”

“ _Yes!_ ” shouted Six.

Pinhead grabbed the case and set it aside.

.

In the bathroom. . .

“Alright Torch, let’s get you on the sink so we can clean that jacket of yours.” Chug said and hoisted Torch up like a small toddler. He even placed a dry towel down on the counter before placing Torch down.

“So, how are you folks doing so far?” he asked, grabbing a washrag and wetting it.

“ _meh._ ”

“Need more time to form an opinion, eh?” Chug smiled and started to clean Torch’s helmet first. “But I think that Blade bloke isn’t exactly happy here. I mean, first he gets his leg and ankle broken, then gets snatched and wrapped in spider webs and hung from the ceiling like some kind of weird decoration, then strapped into a chair while some guy he doesn’t know starts performing experimentations on him and then surgery, then has to live with limited mobility. I mean, would you be happy if you went through that?”

“ _Guess not._ ” Torch replied and watched as Chug filled a small container with blue liquid and dabbed some torn pieces of tissue in it.

“Glass cleaner, for your eyes.”

The two remained silent for a moment while Chug cleaned up Torch’s helmet. “So, any idea on why I can understand you and not the others?” he asked.

“ _I don’t know._ ” Torch answered.

“Well, I suppose I could take a wild guess and say you have animal brains. Do you think that could be a possibility?” Chug dried the helmet then grabbed a bristled hair brush from the mirror and started brushing Torch’s coat.

“ _I don’t know what your talking about._ ”

“Aha, so you do require brains for the elixir.” Chug smirked.

“ _Fine._ ”

“(chuckles)”

“ _. . . How did you find out?_ ”

“I have my ways.” Chug answered and grabbed the damp washrag and started rubbing the coat. “When your flames run out, how do you reload?”

“ _Huh?_ ”

“Well, a flame doesn’t burn forever, just a really long time. Depending on how much fuel you have and what kind.”

“ _Fuel?_ ”

“Yeah, you know, like gasoline, petroleum, concentrated alcohol, coal, fossil fuel, hydrogen and methane, fine powdered flour, kerosene. All flammable substances.”

“ _That’s a lot of fuel._ ”

“Yeah, hairspray is flammable as well. Maybe we can play around with it when we head to Bodega Bay tomorrow, what say you?”

“ _Uh, I don’t know. We used to live at Bodega Bay Inn._ ”

“Really? I did not know that. Why’d you guys leave?” Chug finished with the coat and started working on his hand then his boots.

“ _Didn’t really have a choice. We’re puppets._ ”

“Now don’t say that about yourself. You guys have free will do you not?”

“ _Until we find a master._ ”

“A Puppet Master? What exactly is the job of a Puppet Master?”

“ _I don’t know. But I have heard stories about one named Andre Toulon. He was a good one._ ”

“Andre Toulon. Sounds French. Toulon. Toul-lo-on. Tou-- A-Anyway, continue.”

“ _Don’t really know much about him. I was created after he died._ ”

“Oh really? And the others?”

“ _They were all made by Andre._ ”

“So, does that make you, what? Their half . . . brother?”

“ _(shrugs)_ ”

“So, if the others were made by Andre Toulon and he brought them to life, . . . made by the same hand .. . . They’re brothers.”

“ _Yeah._ ”

“Why so down about it?”

“ _They knew him when he was alive, and were created by him when he was alive._ ”

“Oh, . . . but you weren’t.”

“ _(shakes head)_ ”

“. . . Oh, Torch,” Chug gathered him up in a hug which surprised him. “I know that lost feeling as well.”

Torch didn’t know what to do. He’d never been hugged before, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it nor what to do so he remained still. Chug put him back down and brought out some black shoe polish and polished his shoes. “So, after Toulon, who were the other ‘Masters’?”

“ _Uh, I think there were two before I was created. They don’t really talk about them. But . . . I do remember one named Rick Myers. He was alright. He was into uh, um, bio . . . biom . . ._ ”

“Bio-mechanics?”

“ _Yeah, he made these laser guns and played around with Pin and Tunneler for a while before Sutekh’s Totems went after him._ ”

“Su-who?”

“ _Sutekh. I don’t know what his deal was, but he was after the formula as well, claiming it was his first and that Andre stole it from him._ ”

“Sounds like a sore loser with a grudge stick. Sutekh. Sutekh. . . . That sounds Egyptian.”

“ _Egyptian Lord or something._ ”

“Sorcerer? Magic person.”

“ _I guess. But those totems were a nasty piece of work. There was one I remember that had magic and paralyzed me once._ ”

“Ouch. Paralyzation from Dark Magic is quite painful. I should know.”

“ _How?_ ”

“Oh, me and my brother once fought someone who was obsessed with immortality. He went so far as so break his soul in pieces and storing them in objects to tether himself to this plane of existence.”

“ _Yech._ ”

“Yeah, Humans, go figure.”

“ _You don’t like humans?_ ”

“No-o-o! They’re nasty, sneaky, selfish, greedy, cowardly little shit-bags that will do anything, and I mean, anything to save or prolong their life. There was this one dude who sold his mother’s entire heritage to save his company from bankruptcy. And there was this one woman who surrendered her infant child for drugs! And don’t get me started on pedophilia! Ugh, people make me sick sometimes!”

Torch remained quiet as Chug ranted on and on about the horrors of animal cruelty and child abuse and overall humans as a race. He suddenly felt understood by this kid and so he decided.

“ _Master._ ”

“Wha--?”

“ _Master._ ”

“What do you mean ‘Master’?”

“ _. . . Master._ ”

“Uh-h, your master? Me? Your master?”

Torch nodded.

“What about your brothers?”

“ _My master. . . MY Master!_ ”

“Don’t call me master.”

“ _Mas-ter!!_ ”

Both just look at each other.

“So, do you want a whole new body? One that you feel comfortable in?”

“ _Please?_ ”

“I’ll start drawing up some plans after we reach Bodega Bay, that sound good?”

Torch nodded.


	9. Confrontation and Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll add notes to any chapter anyone has any questions on.

The five puppets were on their third film by the time Torch joined them in the living room holding Blade’s hat.

“ _Here’s your hat. M . . . T-the kid fixed it up a bit._ ”

“ _. . . Did you just stutter?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _No._ ” Torch grumbled and stuffed the hat on Blade’s head and went off to the fireplace.

Blade pushed his hat up with his hook so that he could see properly and stared at Torch. “ _Alright, Torcher-man, what’s got you in a mood now?_ ” he asked.

“ _Don’t call me that!_ ” Torch growled. “ _And we’re going back to Bodega Bay tomorrow._ ”

“ _WHAT?!_ ”

“ _We’re finally going home?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _How does the kid know about Bodega Bay, what did you tell him?!_ ” Six demanded.

“ _How much does he know?_ ” Blade demanded.

“ _I don’t want to go back in the trunk._ ” Tunneler said.

Pinhead, Tunneler, Six and Blade were all talking at once until . . .

“ _SHUT UP!!_ ” shouted Jester.

The five stared at the little puppet, slightly shocked.

“ _Let him explain everything first. Start at Bodega Bay._ ” Jester said calmly.

“ _The kid told me that we’re heading there tomorrow to meet up with his brother. Turns out they own the land and with the building no longer in use, some contractors want to tear it down but they can’t get permission from the city government unless the landowners allow it._ ” Torch said.

“ _Own the land? Are you telling us that the kid, the kid with the green hair, that-that . . . WEIRD kid, and his brother OWN Bodega Bay?_ ” Six Shooter questioned.

“ _Yes._ ”

“ _The kid has a brother? Does that mean we have to show ourselves to the brother as well?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _They both already know. The kid somehow found out about the past. . . . And about . . . Andre._ ”

The puppets went quiet.

“ _How did he find out about Andre? His journal was destroyed._ ” Blade demanded.

“ _(shrugs) He found out a lot of things._ ”

“ _Like what, exactly?_ ” Blade gritted.

“ _That I have animal brains for one. And about Sutekh and his totems, and about the elixir._ ”

“ _No way the kid could find out all that on his own without the book. You must have told him!_ ” Six snarled.

“ _I admit I told him about Sutekh and Rick Myers and a little about Andre Toulon, but he already knew about the elixir! I asked how he found out but he hasn’t told me!_ ” Torch shouted.

“ _Well then burn his ass and find out!_ ” Six shouted.

“ _I can’t harm him!!_ ” Torch shouted back.

The puppets went quiet.

“ _What do you mean you can’t harm him? He isn’t our master._ ” Blade said.

“ _No._ ” Torch replied.

“ _What? You . . . you didn’t . . . Did you?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _. . ._ ”

“ _Torch! How could you?!_ ” Blade practically snarled.

“ _It’s not like you lot are gonna miss me anyway._ ”

“ _What? Of course we will, we’re brothers._ ” Jester said

“ _I won’t. I’ll be glad to get rid of him._ ” Six put in.

“ _Six!_ ” exclaimed Jester.

“ _He’s not even human. He doesn’t even have a former life. Dead Toulon made him out of insanity and greed._ ”

“ _Six, that’s enough!_ ” Blade snapped.

“ _Shut up Blade, don’t tell me you haven’t thought the same thing. Torch is nothing but an animal!_ ”

“ _. . . Nice to finally hear it._ ” Torch growled and stomped off to the bathroom and slammed the door.

“ _Nice going Six. This is why I don’t like you very much._ ” Jester said and walked off after Torch.

.

Torch paced in frustration wanting to hit something, but his master was sleeping and the bathroom held a lot of noise if hit hard enough. His anger won out and he punched the sink cupboard right through, leaving a small hole in the door. But Six Shooter’s words were still ringing in his ears and he continued to punch and kick the until he felt a hand tap his his shoulder.

“Would you like to go somewhere and burn down a few things?” Chug asked.

Torch just flared his eyes as bright as he could and growled.

“You’re really upset. Alright, come along.” Chug picked him up and carried him through his room.

.

Jester flinched as he heard the door slam but continued onward. He didn’t like it when Six would gang up on Torch or bad mouth him. Torch was a dangerous fellow, yeah, but he was still hand made by Toulon, dead or not, and that made him their brother. Their baby brother to be exact. Torch was the last one created by Andre Toulon, Blade came before him during the war, then it was him, then Pinhead. Tunneler and Six were older than he was so he didn’t know which one of them was the oldest.

And then of course, there was also Leech Woman. She came almost a year after he did.

He was an only child in his former life so having a big family with lots of brothers made him happy and playful. He didn’t like loud fights because they reminded him too much of the war and his death.

He paused when he heard punching and kicking. Torch was probably taking his anger out on a piece of wood.

“Would you like to go somewhere and burn down a few things?” He heard the kid say. Torch growled his mechanical growl which he always found scary, and he could just imagine those eyes burning with hate. He shivered.

“You’re really upset. Alright, come along.”

He heard a door open and then close. He knew he missed his chance at talking with Torch and decided to head back.

“ _AH! Blade! Don’t sneak up on me like that!_ ”

“ _Sorry,_ ” Blade chuckled, earning a slap from Jester which made him chuckle some more. “ _How’s Torch doing?_ ”

“ _The kid carried him off to burn out his anger. He said Torch was really upset._ ”

“ _I know. We could hear his kicking in the living room, but Six is being punished appropriately. The kid has some movies specifically for punishment._ ” Blade said and shivered.

“What? Something gory like SAW? That’s not punishment.”

“ _Oh-h-h, it’s much worse than that._ ” Blade whispered and leaned in close. “ _It’s Barbie!_ ” he hissed.

Jester would have blinked if he could, then started laughing his head off.


	10. Returning Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Leech Woman N/A due being thrown in an iron stove and burned alive.) and Jester doesn't have his hat.)  
> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~

Chug had placed the old Toulon trunk into the back of his car and slammed it shut. He was a little upset at them for being mean to Torch last night, but he couldn’t do anything about it. It was their fight, they had to settle things between themselves.

But he can fume about it to his brother later, right now he had to gather them up and put them in the car so they could leave.

“Alright guys, up and at 'em! We’ve got a long drive ahead so in the car you go!” he shouted, gathering Jester, Tunneler and Blade and placed them in the backseat. Pinhead and Six Shooter followed and climbed in. Chug also gathered his modeling trunk and stuffed it in the back with them. “So you can see outside.” he said, securing it then went over to the driver’s seat and started up the car.

The puppets were rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, except Six who went back to sleep, and looked around. Jester was the first one to notice someone was missing. “ _Where’s Torch?_ ”

“ _What?_ ” yawned Tunneler, stretching his limbs.

“ _Torch is missing._ ” Jester said, looking around. He got up and looked over the edges of the trunk, then tried to climb up front to see if he was riding shotgun.

“ _He’s not here._ ”

.

Chug was trying not to smirk at their little predicament. Jester was obviously worried about Torch, but so far, he appeared to be the only one. ‘Let’s see how the rest react once they wake up.’ he thought, watching them in his review mirror.

He heard Jester cooing worriedly, his face in a frown. Blade started hissing and nudging everybody awake. He was a little rough with Six in his rousing but soon they were all looking around for Torch.

Six Shooter didn’t seem to be trying too hard and finally gave up, crawled onto the surface under the back window, lied down, pulled his hat over his eyes and fell back asleep.

Blade noticed this and started hissing and waving his hook at him.

“Hey, I’m gonna turn on some music, alright?” Chug asked, not waiting for an answer and switched on the radio. His mp3 was hooked up to it and he started playing that. The first thing to come on was a loud heavy metal rock band. Six jumped up and hit his head on the window and the rest covered their ears. Chug pretended to ignore it and started singing.

“I’m gonna ri-i-se to it! You know I really can do it!” he sang.

Their suffering didn’t last long, thankfully, but he wasn’t finished with them. Once the music was at a more tolerable level for them, he activated a visor screen that separated them, but he was still able to see them and they were still able to see him. Then he placed his hat in the automated stick-shift (the middle arm) upside down and the puppets saw Torch climb out of it and onto the passenger’s seat.

Then they saw the kid press some buttons on the radio station and then turned away from the steering wheel to face Torch.

“ _What the hell is he doing?! Keep your hands on the wheel!_ ” shouted Blade, waving his arms.

Chug turned back to the wheel and they felt the car’s velocity increase gradually. They could hear the engine hum and then Chug pressed a few more buttons on the radio station and then slowly pulled the steering wheel towards himself.

“ _Now what does he think he’s doing? Flying an airplane?!_ ” Blade asked and fell backwards as the car tilted upwards. He looked out the window and saw the horizon tilting and the top of the tree lines became visible for a few seconds before disappearing completely.

“ _Uh, . . . Yeah._ ” Pinhead said, looking out the window as well.

“ _Well, I’ll be damned._ ” Six muttered. “ _G’night._ ”

.

The puppets had all calmed down about an hour later when it became apparent that they couldn’t be heard. Six was unbothered by the whole thing and was asleep again, Jester was mad at Six because he started it in the first place, Pinhead and Tunneler minded their own business and kept themselves busy looking out the window and playing ‘I Spy’ and Blade decided to get some rest because his leg was starting to kill him.

The only highlight about the trip was that they weren’t locked in the trunk and left in the dark. Blade didn’t think Jester would handle that very well. And to be honest, he didn’t think he could either. Four masters had abandoned them by taking them someplace and leaving them there trapped in the trunk. Maybe they wouldn’t be abandoned this time if the kid was letting them ride in the car and not in the trunk.

He didn’t even put them inside a bag or do anything to hide them from sight. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, he took them into the air. And who was going to see a flying car with living puppets in the backseat other than birds?

Although he did wonder why Torch and the kid were giving them the silent treatment. Torch, he could guess that it was about last night and Six’s harsh words, but why would the kid be ignoring them? They didn’t do anything to him. But then again, maybe he was feeling sympathetic towards Torch, he could understand him after all. Torch probably ranted about them in front of him.

Whatever the case, it was probably a good thing. Torch didn’t really have anyone to confide in and always stayed out of their group activities.

He stopped pondering on these thoughts when the kid let go of the steering wheel, pushed his chair back and brought it down and pulled his own fedora over his eyes and fell asleep. He was going to panic, he just knew it.

.

Five hours later. . . . 

Blade could feel his brain shutting down from exhaustion. He had kept an eye on the wheel, watching it steer itself when an automated female voice declared they had reached their destination and was asking for clearance to land. The driver woke up, (finally!) and took control of the flying car and stuck an earpiece in his ear and started talking. He couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it seemed they had permission to land because the car suddenly dipped and began to descend.

He could feel himself losing the battle with consciousness and began to nod off, but he told himself that he wouldn’t sleep until they were back safe on the ground once more and inside the hotel.

‘ _Just a little longer. Just a little longer. Just (ya-a-a-wn) a little . . . longer . . ._ ’

He lost.

Of course the music didn’t help either. A slow jazz song called 'Sleep Away' was the last thing he heard.


	11. The Brother and more Puppet History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the background is speculation I've made based on what was available from the movies.

Kokiri Yusaga, a.k.a Kegs, is the older brother of Chug Yamazaki. He has long lavender hair that flowed like water down to the middle of his back, wore dark sunglasses, and prefers a black ensemble. Except for his shoes. They were a tan-ish color. He has very pale sea shell peach color skin, is 5’11’’ tall and sounds just like Paul McCartney when speaking. He loves to drive and play piano and loves his brother dearly, and although you cannot see them, he has very green almost polished emerald green eyes and long lashes.

Of course, that’s just a brief public record. What is not on public record is that he is virtually immortal.

Yes, he cannot die. He survives for the sake of his brother. And one of his appointed jobs is being the Guardian of Life and Magic. Yes, Life and Magic, he can perform magic. It’s one of the reasons why he’s immortal in the first place.

He was currently wandering around some property that he had purchased ages ago to rent for land use. The public record say it is called Bodega Bay and once upon a time there was a hotel that was working quite well.

The hotel was still there but no longer in use. Some contractors had contacted him about tearing it down and would have if it hadn’t been for the contract he had passing governors sign to keep him informed of the land’s business and happenings.

The hotel was working great until 1941 when a man had killed himself to prevent capture from Nazis. He thought it odd that Nazi soldiers would come all the way to America just for one man.

Further research concluded that the man was a puppeteer named Andre Toulon who knew the secret of bringing life to the inanimate. He found it interesting that a mortal entertainer would do such a thing and dug further into it. 

Andre had apparently learned the secret from an Egyptian Sorcerer who claimed to have stolen it from an Egyptian Dark Lord named Sutekh. It was amusing to say the least. Being the Guardian of Life and Magic, Kokiri found the so called secret highly amusing. The system was very basic, an organic elixir requiring brain matter for the neural energy and independent thought was needed, and blood extractions from the brewer to secure loyalty and obedience from his puppets.

Andre had been a veteran doctor from WW 1 and retired afterward, shifting his knowledge of anatomy and chemistry into the art of hand-carving wooden puppets and becoming a puppeteer. His new career was quite a success and when he learned of the secret, brought his friends back after they were murdered by Sutekh’s own puppets.  
Kokiri was quite impressed when Toulon discovered the secret’s secret for it to work properly. Will Power, a powerful source of magic that embodied all three levels, Physicality, Mentality and Emotion. Some people claim this to be the soul, but that was actually a different level, the Fourth Level.

Kokiri looked up the puppets Toulon had carved and found some rather interesting things. The first group of puppets to regain life were labeled Retro Puppets, another set of puppets were created and each were given a second chance at life, they were called Toulon’s Miraculous String-less Marionettes. But there was one interesting factor in these two groups. It was the fact that one character remained the same: Six Shooter.

Toulon had a six armed puppet in the first group called Six Shooter that had basic anatomy, six arms and held the soul of the Sorcerer. In the second group he was re-carved, still had six arms, wore stereo-typical cowboy clothing and was the one who gave the O.K. to Toulon to take the brain matter of another doctor and place it into his newest puppet called Blade.

There was another quirk that caught Kokiri’s interest about the two groups. The Retro Puppets had a comrade named Drill Sergeant due to the drill on his head, and Toulon’s String-less Marionettes had a similar one named Tunneler wearing a Navy Colonel outfit. Both had working drills.

Blade was another one. Retro Puppets had a comrade named Blade, who was close to Toulon, and Toulon’s String-less was also close to him and eventually became the leader of the new group.

Both groups were practically the same in almost every way, there were just a couple differences: Jester and Leech Woman from the String-less, Dr. Death and Cyclops from Retro.

Jester was a young spirit who used to be a Book Keeper and was shot down by the Nazis. Being a Book Keeper meant he held records. There was nothing dangerous about a job like that, but it did give him power to make private records public, accidentally or otherwise, and the Germans weren’t going to take the risk while they were winning and gaining forces.

Leech Woman was the wife of Andre Toulon and was also shot down. After seeking his revenge for his wife, Toulon then retreated to America and after a few months shot himself.

Fifty years later, the puppets gained a new master in a pa-psychic named Neil Gallagher who turned out to be power-hungry and, after reaching his goal of immortality, became abusive towards the puppets, so they bumped him off. They were then handed down to his wife but the puppets had to kill her to keep themselves alive long enough to revive their old master from the grave.

But they'd only brought back the physical and mental part. Toulon was dead for fifty years so he lost his emotion and decided he wanted immortality. During his resurrection Dead Toulon made another puppet. This one he called Torch. Torch was made up entirely out of metal, his right arm constructed into a flamethrower and had bullets for the top row of teeth and had animal brains.

When the puppets realized what their former master had become they destroyed him and Torch set him on fire and Toulon jumped out the window. Three years later, the puppets gained another master in the form of Rick Myers. 

Rick Myers had become the caretaker of the hotel while looking for a peaceful, quiet and private place for him to continue some work he was doing in biomechanics. He and some friends of his had come across the puppets with the help of another pa-psychic.

But one of the party wanted the elixir for himself and, after manipulating the psychic’s Channeling abilities had accidentally summoned puppet-sized demons to retrieve the stolen elixir. However, he was later killed by one of them.

Kokiri later found out that Toulon was in the process of making another puppet before he died, one with removable heads. It was named Decapitron and needed a lot of juice to come alive. Decapitron was awakened to help destroy the demon-puppets and could be used to channel Toulon’s spirit.

Decapitron needed not only a lot of the formula but also a lot of electricity, powerful electricity.

During the whole time between Dead Toulon and Rick Myers, the puppet Blade had kept himself alive. Why he pulled such an act, he wasn’t sure. It could have been Toulon’s spirit requesting him to for the next Puppet Master. Which would make sense since he probably felt trouble brewing in the Underworld and ordered his puppets to protect the next one from harm and/or to keep the elixir safe, no matter what.

Kokiri stopped doing his mental research when something shiny glinted in his peripheral vision and looked over. There was a small gold light coming from the weed overgrowth and he headed over.

The gold light was coming from a small gold bell that was attached to a crushed-velvet, three-legged, maroon colored, medieval-style jester hat.


	12. Bodega Bay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just now realized that I neglected to say that this was my very Puppet Master fanfic I've written. I wrote it back in 2017.  
> .  
> (Leech Woman N/A due being thrown in an iron stove and burned alive.)  
> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~

“Captain, this is the Kid requesting permission to land. Do you copy?” Chug asked through his earpiece.

“Kid, this is the Captain, permission granted. Over. I’ll see you inside.” came the reply.

“Toodles.” Chug replied back and eased his car to align with the driveway and landed with hardly a bounce. Well, hardly to him, the puppets . . .

.

The five puppets in the backseat were bounced off the trunk they were sitting for a good three seconds when they landed. Blade was jostled awake from it, but only for a second before he fell back asleep. Jester went “Whee!” and landed five inches from his original spot next to Blade. Pinhead was holding onto a strap that was securing the trunk they were on so he didn’t bounce as much, Tunneler was like Jester but he didn’t enjoy it. Six Shooter was bounced off his perch under the back window and toppled onto Blade and Jester, giving Blade a painful wake up with a loud, “ _AH-OW!!!_ ”

But Chug and Torch heard none of this.

Chug drove the car down the driveway but had to press down on the brakes less gradually than he normally would so they all heard a loud ‘SCRE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E--E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E--E-E-E-E-E-EE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-CH!!’ for about a minute, leaving behind a trail of smoke and the scent of burnt rubber.

The puppets in the back were thrusted left and right and left again and then held there by the gravity, all trying to hold on until they finally came to a stop and were thrusted back to their right. When they righted themselves they found that the back of the car was facing the hotel and they were looking down the driveway, a long black streak all the way down as far as they could see. The car had rotated to prevent from flipping over.

“ _Whoever’s on my leg PLEASE get off!_ ” Blade screamed, trying not to move his arms as they were right below Jester’s chest and stomach.

“ _Six, get your foot out of my face and your second left hand off my butt!_ ” shouted Jester who was the one on Blade’s injured leg but he couldn’t move because Tunneler was on his legs.

“ _Get off me!_ ” came Tunneler’s shout. He was buried under Six who had him pinned down with all three right arms to keep himself from falling off the trunk.

“ _Someone’s gotta pull me up first! I’m gonna fall!_ ” Six shouted back at them.

Pinhead had held onto the strap the whole time so was the one to pull Six back onto the trunk and then Tunneler got up and Jester got off of Blade’s leg. Blade was visibly shaking to keep himself from screaming in pain. If he had tear ducts they would have seen tears streaming down his face. And if he had teeth he would have been biting his bottom lip to keep himself from screaming and hands for gripping until his knuckles had turned white.

“ _From now on. . ._ ” he gritted shakily. “ _WE’RE WEARING SEAT BELTS!!!_ ” he screamed.

“ _After a ride like that I wouldn’t mind going back in the trunk._ ” Tunneler quietly mumbled to Pinhead who agreed.

.

Kokiri watched his brother land the car in the 110 yard long driveway and heard the brakes instantly screech, leaving behind a trail of white smoke and the scent of burnt rubber filled the air. The silver 2015 Cadillac Sedan swerved left, right and left again before turning completely around and coming to a full force stop. He applauded such skill and walked up to greet his little brother.

.

Once Chug shut off the engine the barrier he had put up was also turned off and he was able to hear the other puppets in the back making a loud ruckus. He looked through his review mirror and saw that they were all tangled up in each other. And poor Blade was buried underneath all of them. He gasped and quickly exited to retrieve them to keep Blade from further injury.

He opened the back door and set each one down on the ground one by one but left Blade in the car, not wanting to get skewered by that knife or hook.

“What’s up, Kid?” his brother called.

“There’s one in here that’s badly injured and doesn’t like me very well.” Chug smiled and introduced Blade who hissed loudly at them and waved his arms in their general direction.

“He’s got a potty mouth.” Kokiri chuckled and lifted the injured one who immediately stabbed, sliced, swiped, smited, slashed and even bit him but did nothing to caused harm or damage.

“ _Hey! Put him down!_ ” shouted Jester.

Tunneler and Pinhead attacked Kokiri. Tunneler drilled into his leg and Pinhead grabbed at his ankles to twist them til they broke, but Tunneler ran right through the leg and continued under the car, Pinhead twisted but the feet remained in placed, doing absolutely nothing.

“Dr. Hess, there’s no need to throw such a childish fit.” Kokiri said, stopping the attackers in their tracks and causing shock to the other three. “Now, allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Kokiri Yusaga and my brother is Chug Yamazaki and let me be the first to welcome you back to Bodega Bay Inn.” he smiled.

.

After the two brothers had brought everyone in and settled them on a couch in the main lobby (Blade and Six Shooter glaring deadly daggers and had their arms crossed), they sat down on a separate couch and talked, having tea.

“What happened to Blade?” Kokiri asked Chug.

“A casket fell on his foot twice, according to Torch anyway.” Chug answered.

“The metal one?” Kokiri asked, shocking the puppets even more.

“Yeah, seems he has animal brains instead of human, which is why I can understand him and not the other five.” said Chug.

“I can see why you called ahead about them. What about their trunk? Did you bring that along? And the casket?” Kokiri asked.

“Yeah, Torch pointed it out to me before we left.” Chug answered.

“Good, it holds Decapitron. I wouldn’t want to imagine the trouble they would cause just to tell us to retrieve him.” Kokiri stated, sipping his tea.

“Well, to be honest, I can’t understand a word they’re saying.” Chug said.

“Yeah, you said that. But on another note, does this hat belong to anyone?” Kokiri asked, pulling Jester’s hat out of a pocket.

“ _My hat!!_ ” Jester exclaimed and ran over to claim it and put it on his head and spun his face into his signature mischievous grin. “ _Where’d you find it?_ ”

“Down by the cliff side, along with some shredded black fabric.” Kokiri handed Chug the shredded pieces, causing Blade and Jester to gasp.

Chug felt the material between his fingers. “This feels like . . . raincoat material. The kind that stop mid-calf. You know, a Bogie-C coat.”

“I figured that as well. There was also a dead demon thing nearby and two King black scorpions and three tarantulas.” Kokiri said and clicked at the TV to show the demon thing.

All the puppets gasped, recognizing the creature.

“Video footage didn’t reveal much, the overgrowth concealed a lot of it. But there were a few glints of light reflecting off of something shiny. The chips from the scorpions and tarantulas recorded the sounds. Some kind of battle happened.” Kokiri said

“ _How the hell do you know what those things are?_ ” Blade demanded.

“Our cameras record everything short-stack.” Kokiri answered calmly.

“ _Cameras? I see no cameras._ ” Six called out, looking around.

“Of course you wouldn’t. These cameras aren’t earth made.” said Chug.

“ _Huh?_ ” inquired all the puppets.

“With the technology you’ve seen at Chug’s cabin do you really think Earthlings would have made such things?” Kokiri asked.

“ _Well who else could?_ ” Six challenged, crossing his arms.

“How about aliens from outer space?” Kokiri challenged back, fully expecting the laughter that would follow.

He wasn’t disappointed.

“ _Aliens? From outer space?!_ ” Six gasped between breaths.

“Alright, proof you want, proof you will get.” Kokiri smirked and stood up then clicked a button on his watch and disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

“Oh sure, leave me here with former murderers.” Chug said sarcastically and gathered each one, placing them in his hat and pressing his own watch and also disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

.

The puppets stopped laughing as they were placed inside Chug’s hat, finding it was bigger on the inside. Just like that trunk with all the clothes.

The machinery installed looked just like the ones one would find in a sci-fi film. Pillars and pillars with blue lighted rings encircling them were humming away, sending electrical pulses up and down. To their left were several computer screens all showing different things. One was showing cartoons, another was giving off some kind of readings that Blade kind of recognized, another had words running along the screen, and another one appeared to be live. The camera appeared to be walking down a long neutral colored hallway. There were people passing by, some giving a wave, and others just running past.

The camera made a turn and went down a dimly lit hallway and then Kokiri showing up on the screen.

“So, are they in your hat?” he asked.

“Yep, visuals show they’re not doing anything but watching the screens.” answered Chug, holding up a hand held monitor in front of the camera that was recording and the puppets saw themselves watching the multiple screens and immediately started looking around for a camera.

Chug pressed a button on the small monitor and it revealed a close up of Blade who flinched at the sudden change and started waving his hook in front of himself.

“That reaction never gets old.” Kokiri chuckled.

Chug pressed a button again and Jester was next on the close up, he flinched as well from how close it was.

“Come on, we’ll let them out on the main observation deck.” Kokiri said and the two of them walked to an elevator and rode upwards.

“So how much did you find out about them?” Kokiri asked.

“Hand carved by a puppeteer named Andre Toulon, had their brains extracted as an ingredient for this elixir and brought back to life. What about you?” Chug asked.

“Andre Toulon was a veteran war doctor from the first world war and had a degree in chemistry as well. After the war he turned to wood carving and became an entertainer.” said Kokiri.

“And his creations?” Chug asked.

“Out of all of Toulon’s creations, Six Shooter holds my interest the most.” Kokiri said.

“Why’s that?” Chug asked.

“The first group had a Six Shooter who also had six arms and carried the soul of the Egyptian Sorcerer who taught Toulon the reanimation spell.” Kokiri said.

“Really?” Chug asked.

The puppets looked at Six Shooter.

“The first group holds a lot of similarities to these ones. There was a Pinhead who was the first to be reanimated, there was one that had a drill on his head like Tunneler’s but he was called Drill Sergeant. Another had three knives for fingers, guess what his name was.” Kokiri said.

“Blade?” Chug guessed.

“Yep, the only ones from the second group that hold originality are Jester, Leech Woman and Torch.” Kokiri said

“Leech Woman? Who’s that?” Chug asked.

“She was formally known as Elsa Toulon, his wife, but he brought her back and gifted her with leeches so she could cast her own vengeance.” Kokiri answered.

“How come she’s not with them now?” Chug asked.

“She was burned alive by a farmer’s wife, but that human got her due. Roasted alive she was, it was beautiful. She was very well done by the time the fire went out. Cooked to a blackened crisp. Ok, I’m hungry now.” Kokiri said.

“(chuckles) But what made her human?”

“She and her husband made a deal with me to start up a family farm that could be inherited through generations, but she turned out to be infertile and they started embezzling the money for themselves. The contract itself was terminated once she found out that she couldn’t have kids. And I only let it slide because they were already marked.”

“When you said roasted alive, do you mean to tell me that Torch made the kill?”

“For an infant of two hours he was well created, dead hands or not. He could go into culinary for your major carnivore stable, cooked meat produces a much better gas fuel than raw meat, even if it does stink.”

“True. And the husband?”

“Ugh, he was worse. Zoophelia with his hogs before going to his wife.”

“A-A-AGHHH!!!! YECH!! UGH! NASTY! BLECH!!”

“So, I’m not sorry to see them go and their deaths gave us the land as collateral damage.”

“(shivers) Those poor Terran animals. Please tell me the husband died slow and horrible and in total agony!”

“His brains were extracted in his sleep.”

“Ch’ish! . . . Ok, what about the rest of the guys, what did you find out about them?”

.

The puppets were appalled at how the brothers were describing the deaths of the farmers and how they appraised Torch, but once the reasons why for such behavior were given it didn’t sound too bad.

But the amount of information they had about Toulon was astounding to say the least. The Retro Puppets was quite a shocker as well. They weren’t even mentioned in Toulon’s journal. So how did they know these things if they didn’t even have the book?

“We’re here everybody.” Kokiri said and the cameras shut off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A 'Bogie-C coat' is a reference to Humphrey Bogart: Casablanca


	13. Torch finds out the Truth/Kokiri’s Power Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> bold letters = demonic Kokiri  
> bold Italic = 'God' Kokiri  
> (Yes, Kokiri has a 'God' mode, and a demonic mode)

Torch was hidden off from the screens out of sight from his brothers so he could listen in on his master and the brother’s conversation. He didn’t expect to be praised for roasting that farmer woman alive and accidentally cooking the brain matter, but finding out the female puppet was formerly the wife of Andre Toulon, virtually his mother, shocked him.

When he watched her burn he didn’t feel anything about it, but then as the brother pointed out he was only two hours old when he made his first kill. How was he to know that Mrs. Toulon was also the puppet Leech Woman brought back to life? Now he felt bad about not doing anything to save her. And when Six Shooter was brought up he felt it answered why the cowboy was so arrogant and full of himself. So he was the Sorcerer who taught Toulon about the formula. He was the reason why he and his brothers kept losing their former masters to Sutekh’s totems and being abandoned in the middle of nowhere locked inside Toulon’s trunk.

His eyes slowly lit up and he let out a low mechanical growl.

.

Jester turned away from the blacked out screens when he heard a low menacing growl coming from the side of the computers. He quietly approached the sound and found, “ _Torch?_ ”

Torch flashed his eyes in surprise at the little puppet and quickly stood up, alerting the others of his presence.

“ _Torch, how long have you been there?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Longer than you guys._ ” Torch growled.

“ _Now what’s got you in a mood?_ ” Six sighed, crossing his arms.

“ _Shut up you! This whole entire thing is your fault! You shouldn’t have taught Dad the secret!! You’re the reason why my Mom’s dead!!_ ” Torch screamed and ran off and jumped out of the hat.

. .

Chug was about to reach into his hat and bring out the puppets when Torch suddenly hopped out and ran off in a random direction.

“Torch!” he called out. “Here, you take care of them.” he said, handing his hat over to his brother and went after Torch.

Kokiri raised an eyebrow and waited til Chug was out of sight before reaching inside the black fedora and bringing out the five puppets within. The first one he grabbed was Jester, followed by Tunneler, then Pinhead, then Blade. But he had to feel around for Six Shooter. When he finally brought them out he set him down next to the others.

“So, any idea on why your baby brother is upset?” he asked, removing his glasses and staring Six down with a fierce glare, showing off his green, glowing cat-like eyes.

“ _Torch is always in a sulky mood._ ” Six answered, crossing his arms in a challenge and stared back.

But Kokiri had better experience and his eyes changed in tone, becoming lighter until they were yellow and his eyes glowed brighter with each tone, never blinking.

Blade, Jester, Pinhead and Tunneler could feel Kokiri’s irritation growing into a powerful fury and backed away.

“And as the first born brother, you should learn how to care for the younger ones.” Kokiri clipped.

“ _They’re fully grown men, they don’t need a babysitter._ ” Six retaliated.

“Oh, so that’s your game, is it? How very . . .” Kokiri said softly, a wicked smiled growing onto his face before his entire being burst into flames and he was transformed into a brimstone wolf with magma flowing through cracks and he pinned Six down with a clawed paw. “ **human of you**.” he growled in a demonic voice.

Six started to struggle as he could feel one of his guns melting.

“ **But you’re not there yet. Not enough . . . greed**.” Kokiri continued. “ **And you had better hope that you don’t become one because I eat humans**.”

“ _Well it’s a good thing that I’m a wooden puppet._ ” Six chuckled and felt another gun melting and slowly burn through his shirt.

“ **Oh, but wood has so much fiber that’s good for the body. In my current case, you’re mere firewood**.” Kokiri chuckled darkly. “ **But that’s not what really scares you is it?** ” he asked, adding pressure on Six as he leaned closer. “ **I know a human’s greatest fear and yours is quite common**.” He leaned down to Six’s ear and whispered with enunciation, “ **I can reverse immortality**.” (I killed Mufasa.)

Six Shooter felt himself stiffen and began to panic. He may have a wooden body now but he was still a Sorcerer, a magical being. And as a magical being he was able to sense other magical creatures and when he stared into Kokiri’s eyes, eyes that had changed from cat yellow to bright blood red and the whites now pitch black, he felt the amount of power he had and it scared him. Kokiri was powerful, more powerful than he was, thousands times more powerful. Hell, he was more powerful than Sutekh!

“ _How can I prevent this?_ ” he asked in a whisper so quiet he knew the others wouldn’t hear him.

“ **That you will have to discover on your own**.” Kokiri answered and released him and solidified the magma body into solid rock which turned to clear ice and then water and then the water reshaped itself to his person form, sitting cross-legged in front of Six Shooter.

He replaced his glasses and looked at Six. “So, any idea on why your baby brother is upset?” he asked with a polite smile.

. .

Chug had chased Torch all the way to the far end of the observation deck and managed to corner him.

“Torch! Torch, stop! I’m . . . I’m outta breath!” he panted. “What’s . . . . Gi-Give me a minute!” he wheezed and bent over to catch his breath.

Breath caught, he picked Torch up and carried him off to a hidden room.

“Ok, they can’t see or hear you. Now, (whew!) What’s the matter?” he asked.

“ _I didn’t know she was my mother! All I did was watch while she screamed and burned!_ ” Torch choked. “ _And the others didn’t like me after I burned the kid! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know she was my mother! I was just a newborn, I didn’t know and they blamed me for it! It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t know! I didn’t. . .! I didn’t! All I did was watch!_ ” and Torch broke down after that.

“No, . . . No, Torch, how could you know? Toulon didn’t have his heart when he was resurrected.” Chug said, gathering Torch in a hug who hugged him back and sobbed his mechanical heart out. “Shh, it’s ok. Just let it out. They can’t see or hear you, just let it out.” Chug cooed, gently rocking Torch back and forth like a child while Torch released his emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a different definition for the word 'human'. In that they are generally greedy, selfish, power-hungry, and often times cowards. If you watch a lot of generic action movies, you'd see that he common theme for typical villains is money and power, and will "sacrifice" their most loyal if it meant saving their own skin. If you don't believe me, make yourself a list of movies with these categories of human traits and prove me wrong. And if you're having trouble with some, leave me suggestions in the comments about he villain; my answer will depend on if I'd seen the movie or not.  
> Yes, I have no life.


	14. Who’s Sutekh?

Kokiri kept Six Shooter apart from the the other four Toulons by lying between them and gazing up at the sunroof ceiling watching the Earth from a distance. They puppets were lying nearby because he told them to and they immediately obeyed, not wanting him mad at them.

When Kokiri finished telling off Six the remaining four were shaking so badly that Jester could have sworn he nearly wet himself from fright. They were all quiet and listened as Kokiri explained a few things about his home planet and a little about himself and his brother.

He finally revealed how he had gotten the information and about the cameras that were positioned all around the world and how long they’ve been there. They even listened to a theory he had about something called 'The Three Levels' which they genuinely found interesting.

The three levels consisted of Physicality, Mentality and Emotion. In simpler terms it went in reverse like so: The Heart (emotion) affects the Mind (mentality), the Mind affects the Body (physicality). 

Kokiri had told them about Andre Toulon discovering the real secret to the formula and why he wasn’t affected by the lure of immortality but Dead Toulon was.

It was true that the formula needed brain matter and blood from the brewer, but it was the victim’s own Will to live and continue fighting against the wrong. He gave examples from Hans Seidelman, Herman Strauss and Dr. Hess. They wanted to continue to help the people in the war.

But when Dead Toulon was revived, they only brought back his mind and body. His heart was no longer functional because of the elixir. The elixir itself wasn’t even meant to be used on humans. It was originally created as a healing potion for cybernetics.

When the puppets heard the words potion and cybernetics in the same sentence, they remembered Chug saying he was a Potions Master and dabbled in Cybernetics and asked if he made the formula.

“Yes, yes he did. The original formula has a few drops of my own blood in it. Blood from a magical being who has mastered the elements can revive, heal and bring life.

However, when I entered my blood it was with the intent that the one taking it really and truly desired to continue living.”

“ _Holy shit!_ ” Blade gasped.

“Although, thinking back, I think I may have accidentally added a desire to destroy humans as well. That could be why you lot only go after the greedy ones.”

“ _But Sutekh said he had created the elixir._ ” Six Shooter said.

“Su-who?” Kokiri asked.

“ _Sutekh. The Egyptian Dark Lord from whom I stole the formula from._ ” Six said.

“What’s he look like?” Kokiri asked, inspecting his nails.

“ _He’s ugly for one._ ” Six said, sitting up. “ _Has these big yellow orbs for eyes and his mouth looks like--_ ”

“It was melted together and then ripped apart. Like cheese on a pizza.” Kokiri said, stopping Six from talking, and also sitting up.

“ _Um, yeah. How did you know?_ ” Six asked.

“Sutekh. Sutekh. . . S-u-t-e-k-h. . . . If you’ll pardon me, I need to study.” Kokiri said and sat in a mediation state and went quiet.

“ _He’s sitting just like that psychic girl when the totems first arrived._ ” Jester said quietly to Blade. “ _You know, when they go 'O-o-ohm'._ ”

“ _Maybe he’s psychic too._ ” Blade said with a shrug.

“ _Duh, how else do you think he can understand us?_ ” Tunneler said.

“ _You know what I mean!_ ” Blade said petulantly.

They flinched when Kokiri started floating off the ground, then they heard a bleep sound and a voice came on.

“Captain, we’ve received word: The Sukka Nas are approaching the Solar’s Outer borders and they’ve doubled their numbers.”

Kokiri dropped and gasped. “Sukkatekhessian Na’Atiaas!” he rapidly called out and abruptly stood up and ran off so super fast that the puppets spun from the unexpected suction, he did not hear the mumbled “ _Gesundheit._ ” as he left. “Bridge, notify The Kid and call the whales to arms . . . .” his voice trailed off as he left the observation deck and the puppets behind.

“ _Hey! What about us?!_ ” Blade shouted.

They heard a distant whoosh and then there was silence save for a low humming.

“ _Now what do we do?_ ” Pinhead asked after a few seconds of silence.

Blade opened his mouth to reply but Kokiri’s voice came on instead.

“All hands, this is the Captain, prepare for battle, the Sukkas are at it again. Senior Officers ready your teams. That is all.”

“ _Did he just say ‘the Sutekhs’?_ ” Jester asked. “ _Sutekh’s the name of a species?_ ”

“ _I think he said Sukkas._ ” Blade said.

“ _It doesn’t matter what he said. He ordered his crew to prepare for battle, and as a Captain, they and his ship are the first priority to ensure all hands remain safe so if we want to survive this battle we had better find ourselves some safety._ ” Tunneler said in a commanding tone and then looked at Blade.

“ _Then let’s follow him._ ” Blade said and the five started off in the same direction Kokiri ran down. . . . but paused.

“ _Uh, do you guys know which way he went?_ ” Blade asked.


	15. BATTLE!!!

The puppets wandered around the deck trying to find a way out and had become firm believers of alien existence at the same time when they saw the Earth shrink into the distance, passed Mars, the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and finally Pluto and beyond. Then their Captain announced that they were going into warp speed and watched as the stars became streaks of light above their wooden heads.

By the time they finally came across a door they were attacked. . . . .

“ _THIS IS JUST LIKE BEING IN STAR TREK!!_ ” Jester shouted as the ship took another hit and their make-shift ladder, which consisted of them standing on each other’s shoulders to reach the door handle, fell again.

But Jester managed to hold onto the stainless steel elan doorknob handle this time.

“ _PULL DOWN THE HANDLE JESS!!_ ” shouted Blade.

“ _I’M TRYING!!_ ” Jester shouted back.

The ship took a hard hit and Jester fell, Pinhead catching him like a bride.

“ _Thanks, sorry guys. I’m just too light._ ”

“ _There’s got to be a way to open that door!_ ” Blade said in frustration.

“ _Well there’s not!_ ” said Six Shooter and stumbled when they were hit again. “ _We’ve tried everything we could think of! My guns are still stuck in their holsters, Tunneler’s drill dulled out from the glass and stopped working altogether and your leg is too badly damaged for you to stand straight!_ ”

“ _Maybe we could try the ladder again except this time Pinhead will pull us down as a rope!_ ” Jester suggested.

“ _It’s worth a shot!_ ” said Tunneler and fell on backside as the ship shook violently from another hit.

“ _Blade, you’re the top this time! Your hook should keep us from falling down again!_ ” Jester said and braced against another impact.

“ _Alright, let’s try this again!_ ” Blade shouted and leaned against Jester for support. His leg was throbbing like no tomorrow and it was killing him. If he had sweat glands he’d be soaked.

Pinhead braced his back against the door and put his hands together to form the first step. Six Shooter climbed up and helped Tunneler up then Jester, then Blade.

Helping Blade up as the last person was kind of hard since he had no hands to grasp without injuring themselves, and the injury to his leg made this much more complicated for they couldn’t do much without causing him further pain. But they managed to do it and he had barely grabbed hold of the door handle when they ship shook violently from a bombardment, knocking all but Blade back on their butts.

“ _You know there are times when we love that hook of yours!_ ” shouted Six.

“ _This is one of them!_ ” shouted Tunneler, Pinhead and Jester.

“ _Way to make me feel loved guys._ ” Blade mumbled and jarred from another hit, his injured leg slamming against the door shooting intense pain throughout his body, but he held in his scream as he felt Jester’s hands grab hold of his ankles.

“ _PULL!_ ” shouted Jester and Blade felt the pain intensify and he let out a scream when the door finally opened and they fell once more. 

Pinhead gathered everyone into a group hug and entered the domain, dropped everybody and then pushed the door closed and leaned against it in relief. They could still hear the battle going on but the room itself was surprisingly stable. Even when they took another hit, it sounded more like a rumble of thunder and the room didn’t shake.

“ _Blade, how bad does it hurt?_ ” Jester asked in a shaky voice. He was starting to remember the war’s air raids from his human days which he did not like to reminisce at all.

“ _I’ll be losing consciousness soon from all the pain._ ” Blade said in a shaky voice as well and couldn’t help the whimper escaping as he shifted from his stomach to his back.

“ _Hang on, boss, we’ve got you. Take it easy._ ” Six said and helped Blade roll over. Upon doing so they all heard a slight hissing sound.

“ _What’s that?_ ” Tunneler asked.

Blade’s breathing became labored as he tried to tune out the pain from his mind and the hissing sound was soon accompanied by a bubbling sound. Like a bubbling cauldron. Jester placed his ear on Blade's stomach and heard it loud and clear. “ _It’s coming from him! I think it’s the formula!_ ” he said and listened more intently.

“ _Why would the formula be bubbling inside him like indigestion?_ ” Six asked, truly bewildered by the phenomena.

“ _It’s a fever._ ” said Tunneler. “ _His injury is causing his body to increase in temperature to decrease the chances of an infection and with the amount of physical strain he just did his body is reacting more to the threat than ever._ ”

“ _But he’s made out of wood! How can a wooden body get a fever?_ ” Six asked.

“ _It doesn’t matter how! We need to find him a doctor and fast!_ ” Jester cried, holding tightly onto Blade. “ _If the formula’s bubbling inside him it could evaporate or worse . . . !_ ” he whimpered.

Just then they were approached by a funny looking bird that immediately started cawing. Well, it sounded more like a bark than a caw, but it was replied to and two more funny looking birds showed up. They stood on two legs, had feathers, three fingered claws, were smaller than them, vicious looking and apparently traveled in packs because three more appeared. Followed by Torch.

“ _Torch?!_ ”

“ _There you guys are! I’ve been looking all over for you! The kid wants you guys in the medical bay now!_ ” he said and started to turn.

“ _Whoa, hold on there Torcher-man, who died and made you king?_ ” Six asked.

Torch turned around and flared his fiery eyes. “ _You want to help Blade or not?_ ” he growled.

“ _I’m with him. Come on Pin, help me carry Blade._ ” Jester immediately replied. Pinhead came over and scooped Blade up in his arms.

The funny birds brought out two long metal rods and lowered them when a pink screen ran between them. One of the birds chirped at Pinhead and looked at the pink screen.

“ _Guys, this is a medical team and that’s a stretcher. The kid sent them to find you guys and I was forced to go to act as a liaison, whatever the hell that means, because they can’t speak people._ ” Torch said.

“ _Works for me. Let’s go._ ” Jester said and had Pinhead lower Blade onto the stretcher.

“ _Wha-? You’re just going to believe him like that?! He’s not even the leader!_ ” Six said not wanting to go anywhere with Torch. He was still smarting from the telling off the brother gave him about the guy. Then Jester rounded on him.

“ _Look Six, you can stay here if you want but Blade needs help, and when he’s down I’M in charge and what I say goes and I SAY WE GET LET TORCH HELP US!! YOU GOT THAT SORCERER?!?!?_ ” he screamed, shaking Six by the collar of his shirt.

“ _Alright, sheesh, lead the way then._ ” Six said in a quiet sarcastic manner.

Torch explained a few things along the way, like the funny looking birds were called velociraptors and that they were entirely mechanical. They weren’t alive like they were, and that their brains consisted of a series of chips with sophisticated programming that it made it seem like they were alive. With the Kid (Chug) as their alpha, they worked efficiently in the medical field.

When Torch led them to a large red scorpion-like creature, Jester halted for a moment, frightened by its sheer size. “ _W-w-w-what’s that thing?_ ” he asked.

“ _Uh, . . . I forget what it’s called, but it’s just for transportation._ ” Torch answered and the velociraptors demonstrated by jumping inside before loading Blade and squawked at the others to hurry up. Six Shooter was hoisted in by the teeth of one of them and then the scorpion hovered down a hallway, its tail undulating, going up and down like a whale’s tail to propel itself. It steered clear of traffic by flying close to the ceiling most of the time and maneuvered through the crew as if it were swimming through an obstacle of coral reefs.

It was frightening at first, but the smooth sailing and gentle maneuvers calmed them quickly enough and they began to relax, but not enough for them to forget where they were, what they were on, and where they were going in the first place.

Jester kept an eye on Blade who’s breathing was getting shorter with each shuddering breath and he started to tremble. The tremors weren’t visibly noticeable, but Jester could feel them. And then Blade coughed, and lack of air made the coughing worse.

“ _How much further to the hospital?_ ” Jester asked.

A raptor came over to Blade’s side when it heard the coughing and started to sniff at him, gave him a lick and then chirped at the others. One of the raptors chirped back and then screamed at the scorpion’s head which increased its speed.

“ _So what are they saying, Great Animal Speaker?_ ” Six asked, crossing his arms and a smirk on his face.

“ _Blade’s condition worsened. It’s nearly critical._ ” Torch answered, and turned to face them. “ _He’s burning up inside._ ”


	16. Fever

“ _Burning up? What do you mean?_ ” Jester asked, grabbing Blade into a hug.

“ _The kid put the whole thing in medical terms so I don’t remember a lot of it. But I think he said it had to do with his injury fighting off uh, . . . something. And since he wasn’t suppose to be physically active post-surgery . . . I really don’t remember what he said. But I do remember him saying that since the formula is our blood, our life’s fluid or something, it reacts like blood and develops its own 'muney' system to protect us and itself._ ” Torch said.

“ _So he does have an infection?_ ” Six asked.

“ _A fever._ ” Tunneler corrected. “ _We have a very, very simple and basic anatomy and blood vessels so we’re not as well developed as we used to be. A cold could put us in bed rest for as long as measles or double pneumonia used to back in the early 1800’s. It could even prove fatal if we’re not careful._ ”

“ _Oh, my aching legs._ ” Six groaned as he despised bed rest. That and Barbie movies.

“ _But we’re puppets! How can we fight off a high temperature if we can’t even put a wet, cold rag on our heads? We’d splinter!_ ” Jester stated.

“ _Gel packs._ ” Pinhead said.

All the other puppets turned to look at him. “ _Wha-?_ ”

“ _Gel packs._ ” Pinhead repeated. “ _Like ice bags. Women use them a lot and it comes in various sizes. I remember one woman who put a blue gel pack on her eyes to help with the irritation from her contacts._ ”

“ _Since when do they have those?!_ ” Six asked in a whiny manner.

“ _Since the 80’s!_ ” Torch said. “ _For a cowboy, you don’t get out much._ ”

“ _Well yeah, I’m a living puppet. People’d freak if they saw a piece of wood moving on its own._ ” said Six.

“ _I’ve got three words for you cowboy: Remote. Control. Toys._ ” Torch growled. “ _Have you not heard of Hot Wheels?_ ”

“ _Since I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m gonna say no._ ” Six said stubbornly.

Any further arguing was silenced when Blade started coughing again, but this time some of the formula came up with it.

“ _We need to get him help and fast!_ ” Jester cried.

The scorpion made one final turn and landed. The velociraptors jumped off and carried Blade inside a tunnel and they emerged in a room full of medical beds and there were creatures running around everywhere.

One raptor went up to a computer and started typing away. A few seconds later it returned and three of them rushed Blade down a hall, the other two keeping the other puppets at bay, one chittering with Torch.

“ _Where are they taking him?!_ ” Jester demanded.

“ _Intensive Care, Cyborg Division._ ” Torch answered. “ _Why Cyborg?_ ” he asked himself, scratching his head.

“ _Oh! That’s right! I completely forgot about that!_ ” Tunneler said, slapping himself in the head. “ _Remember the brother said his brother made the original formula as a healing potion for cyborgs. I think Blade’s in good hands._ ” he said, feeling extremely relieved. The others relaxed at that, Jester especially.

“ _. . . what?_ ” Torch asked.

“ _Oh, just something the brother said._ ” Six replied and looked around for a seat and sat down.

“ _What’d he say? What brother?_ ” Torch asked.

“ _Just stuff about the formula and who originally made it._ ” Six answered and covered his eyes with his hat.

Torch flared his eyes for a moment and quietly growled “ _Dipshit_ ” and went off on his own. None of the others were watching him so they didn’t see him go.

.

When Jester woke up he was surprised he fell asleep in the first place, he looked around and noticed that the hospital room was far more busy than before. The raptors that had taken Blade earlier were running around tending to other patients and trilling, cooing, barking, and squawking away.

He was wondering what was going on and looked around for Torch.

“ _Torch? . . . Torch? . . . Tor- AAAAHHHHH!! SPIDERS!!!_ ” he screamed and dove under Pinhead who had woken from the high-pitched scream.

“ _Wha-? What is it?_ ” Pinhead asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stretching.

“ _There’s no spiders in space, Jess. Go back to sleep._ ” Six mumbled and rolled onto his side.

“ _There are too spiders in space and we’re surrounded by them!!_ ” Jester whimpered, crawling under Pinhead’s sweater to hide, making him laugh.

“ _Jester, get out from under there! Stop! You’re tickling me!_ ” Pinhead chuckled.

Tunneler woke up from all the noise and flinched when a large tarantula skittered by, hissing, and was followed by three rats. He looked around and there were more spiders, but not all of them were tarantulas. He recognized some as Daddy Long Legs, black widows, a few jumping spiders, and house spiders.

“ _What the devil is going on? Where did all these spiders come from?_ ” he asked.

“ _We’re in space. There’s no spiders here._ ” Six grumbled, wanting to sleep some more.

“ _Yeah, well, there was no such thing as aliens either, or mechanical velociraptors or a FLYING SCORPION FOR THAT MATTER!!_ ” came Jester's muffled yell from inside Pinhead’s sweater.

“ _I think these spiders are like those raptors, completely mechanical._ ” Tunneler said, observing the medical room they were in.

The spiders paid no mind to them, skittering past and over their heads and some were weaving their webs and applying them to casts and securing gauze like medical tapes. There were some patients that were completely wrapped in webs the way Blade used to be and were being carefully tended to by the tarantulas and none of the patients seemed bothered or frightened by their appearance.

Then he got a good look at the patients. They were all animals. Rats, mice, squirrels, birds, lizards, snakes. There was even a turtle wrapped in webs! But he didn’t see any that looked to be cyborg. “ _Guys, I don’t see Blade anywhere._ ” he said.

Jester popped his head out from under Pinhead’s sweater. “ _What?_ ”

.

Blade’s mind slowly came back to consciousness. Everything was still dark but he could hears noises coming from his right. He didn’t remember much about what had happened, just that he was in immense pain and he could feel the formula bubbling inside of him. But he seemed fine now. The pain had stopped and the formula had quieted down, but he felt groggy like he had been when Decapitron blew up the hotel’s lobby during his fight with Sutekh.

“ _Jester . . .? . . . Pin . . . ?_ ” he whispered before losing consciousness again.


	17. Looking Back on Torch

Torch wandered through an empty hallway fuming about Six Shooter. Sometimes Six would just get right under his skin and irritate the hell out of him. What Tunneler had said earlier sounded interesting and he wanted to hear it. But whenever he showed interest in something Six would always ruin the mood by being vague about it and smirking at him with that knowing look. Like he knew something interesting before he did and would endlessly tease him about it, blaming Torch’s running off by himself before family meetings when Blade would hand out new information.

He slowed his pace when he began to calm down and tried to remember what Tunneler had said. Something about the brothers and who originally made the formula.

‘ _Come on, think! Think! What did he say?!_ ’ he thought, hitting himself on the head getting frustrated. He gave up, leaned against a wall, slid down with a sigh and tried to clear his mind. He brought his knees up and rested his head against them, falling asleep from the quietness.

.

Jester had tried to get past the raptors that held them back from the hall where Blade was taken down but the raptors were well built, well programmed and knew how to put up a fight. Jester was pinned, sat on and snapped at four times before he gave up and sat down next to Six Shooter (who was chuckling at his ordeal), wishing Torch was with them so he could ask about Blade.

“This is all your fault!” he said, grabbing Six’s hat and hitting him with it.

“ _Ow! What’d I do?!_ ” Six asked, sitting up and rubbing his head.

“ _If you hadn’t pissed off Torch he wouldn’t have stormed off again! Now how will we know where to find Blade, let alone ask about his condition?!_ ” Jester said, hitting the cowboy some more.

“ _Stop it! Gimme that!_ ” Six said and snatched his hat back. “ _Don’t blame me for Torch running off, he’s always done that._ ”

“ _Yeah, and every time he did was because of your taunting!_ ” Jester said stealing the hat again and giving it to Pinhead.

“ _Well it’s never bothered you guys before, why now?_ ” Six asked, making a grab for his hat but Pinhead put it out of reach. Six Shooter may be the tallest of them but Pinhead had the longest arms.

“ _What makes you think we’d show our displeasure in front of your face? We rely heavily on your guns for long distance attacks._ ” Jester said.

“ _Oh, is that all? I thought it was for my good looks._ ” Six smirked, earning a smack from Pinhead with his hat.

“ _Father also depended on your guns during the war and he even pieced you back together when you lost your arm so we figured you were one of his original friends with the Retro Puppets. That’s why we never bothered. But no-o-o, you were actually the Sorcerer who taught him the secret in the first place, you- you--you . . . thing!_ ”

“ _(chuckles) Is that the best insult you can come up with, Little One?_ ” Six asked, grinning.

“ _Hey, only Father and Blade can call me that, Sorcerer. And I could rat you out to the brother since he seems to actually scare you._ ” Jester threatened.

“ _He scares me, too._ ” Tunneler mumbled, Pinhead agreeing.

A tall rat about eight inches tall on its hind legs, carrying a clipboard and wearing a doctor’s uniform came up them and started squeaking.

“ _Aw, look how cute he is!_ ” cooed Jester and reached out to pet it.

The rat responded by smacking his hand with its tail, scribbled on the clipboard and showed it to him. It was the symbol for females.

“ _Oh, sorry, ma’am. How’s Blade doing?_ ” he asked, rubbing his smacked hand.

The rat motioned for them to follow her and they did.

“ _She can understand me!_ ” Jester whispered excitedly.

“ _See? We don’t need Torch. The animals can understand us just fine._ ” Six said smugly and got a whack to the head again from his hat. This time Tunneler hit him.

“ _Ow! Would you stop hitting me with my hat?! That’s real leather!_ ” he snarled trying to snatch it back again.

“ _Then stop being so negative against Torch. He’s our brother._ ” Jester snarled back. “ _And you’re not getting your hat back until you learn to be nice towards him._ ”

“ _Do I look like a miracle worker to you? I ain’t too fond of animals._ ” Six said, rubbing his head.

“ _Well, I’m not fond of spiders and you don’t see me talking shit about them._ ” Jester said.

“ _That’s because you’re scared of them and scream like a girl when you see one._ ” Six snickered.

“ _Yeah? Well let’s see you fight off three tarantulas and two King scorpions by yourself and see how you fair!_ ” Jester nearly shouted and stormed ahead of the group.

“ _Three tarantulas and two scorpions? . . . Is that how you lost your hat?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _I don’t want to talk about it!_ ” Jester yelled for them to hear.

The rat squeaked at them, smacking them with her tail then made the sign for shooshness then tugged on Jester’s sleeve for him to continue to follow her. The other’s took a step to follow but the rat squeaked at them and drew a line with her tail, telling them they had to stay but tugged on Jester’s sleeve.

“ _Um, I think this is those ‘one at a time’ visits._ ” Tunneler stated, getting a firm nod from the rat and entered a dim room, Jester following. Pinhead looked around for a place to sit and found a row of seats all along the wall and sat down, Tunneler following his suit and Six Shooter finding a bench and lying down for a nap.

.

Jester followed the rat all the way to the back near a secluded area, the rat stopped near a curtained off bed, squeaked at him and left. Jester pulled the curtain back a little and found Blade resting on the bed and sighed.

Blade was under a light blue blanket that seemed electrical, but instead of warming him, it cooled. His hat and coat had been placed on a coat stand so that the bags hanging nearby could give him his fluids without interruptions. 

Jester looked at one of the bags and saw that the fluid was similar in color to the formula and was steadily dripping into the IV cord. The other bag had a blue glowing fluid and was also dripping into the IV, but at a slower pace. He worried that the chemicals would react against the formula already inside him but then remembered who had originally created it and its original purpose. He guessed that the blue fluid was a coolant to reduce temperature.

“ _Blade, are you awake?_ ” Jester asked quietly. That was the downside to being a puppet. You could never tell when one was asleep because they weren’t able to blink. Except Tunneler, he was able to blink. When he got no reply he looked around for a chair and sat down.

“ _Six is driving us mad with his arrogance. We took away his hat and told him he wouldn’t get it back until he started being nice to Torch._ ” he said, starting up a one-sided conversation to keep the silence at bay.

“ _But Torch has come in very handy lately, don’t you think? I mean, with his ability to speak with animals and all. Maybe having animal brains isn’t so bad._ ” He paused to find another subject to talk about, clicking his heels together to help himself think.

“ _Um, you know, I’ve been thinking about what Torch said earlier when he ran off. He said that it was Six’s fault that he taught Dad the formula and that his Mom was dead because of him. You think he was talking about Andre and Elsa? . . . . When he put it that way, it got me thinking about how we’ve been treating him and he has every right to be angry with us all the time. We never really treated him like a real brother and took his moodiness as a sign for wanting solitude, but I think it’s really more than that. He never knew the real Toulon when he was made and he didn’t know that Leech Woman was once Toulon's wife. The way the two brothers put everything in perspective makes me realize we were horrible brothers. Torch was just a baby when he saw Miss Leech burn and the way Six teases him when he’s missed out on meetings. He must feel real lonely, don’t you think?_ ”

He looked up to see Blade was still motionless, and sighed, putting his head in his hands. “ _I hope you’ll be alright soon._ ” he mumbled.


	18. Torch; He's Just a Baby, Really

Torch woke up from his little slumber and looked around to see where he was. The ship had been real quiet for some time now and he got up to continue on his way, wondering why he was asleep in the middle of a hallway.

“ _Master?_ ” he called out. “ _Master!_ ” He stopped and looked around, straining his ears for a sound other than the engine humming. “ _MASTER!!_ ” his shout echoed down the hallway but there was still no reply. “ _Somebody? . . . Hello?_ ” he called quietly and a little fearfully.

He headed down the hallway at a slow pace, keeping an eye and ear out for anything but everything was quiet for the first five minutes when he got an idea. He started his flamethrower and fired at full force, setting off the fire alarm and getting hosed down with the flame retardant. “ _That should get someone’s attention._ ” he said to himself, feeling proud and sat down to wait.

.

The Bridge. . .

“What was that? Who started a fire?” Kokiri asked, heading over to the scanners.

“Someone started a fire in the east wing Observation Deck.” answered the scanner person.

“Who’s down there?” Kokiri asked, turning to the screen ahead.

The screen showed Torch setting off a stream of flames and tried to shield himself as the flame retardant showered him again.

“Send a security raptor and have him escorted to Medical Bay C. Chug should be in there.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“And have someone look over the tapes when he first arrived in the wing and then send the footage to my quarters, I’m heading down to the Medical Bay.”

“Aye, Captain.”

.

Torch sat with his knees drawn up, drumming his fingers from anxiety. He had set off three streams of fire and was hosed down each time and no one had come for him yet. He was starting to understand Jester’s panic attacks from all the waiting he was doing. He stood up when he heard footsteps running down from his left.

“ _Master?_ ” he called out. He had to look up at the creature standing before him. It looked like the raptors from the master’s medical team, only it was bigger and had more scales than feathers.

~ _The Captain has ordered me to escort you to his brother down in Medical Bay C. If you will follow me._ ~ it said and turned around.

“ _No! I want my master!_ ” Torch said and sat down and crossed his arms.

~ _The Captain has ordered me to escort you to his brother in Medical Bay C._ ~ The raptor repeated and picked Torch up by the scruff of his neck and ran down the hall.

“ _Put me down! Put me down! I don’t wanna go! I want my master! I want my master!! MASTER!!_ ” Torch shouted, kicking and screaming all the way.

.

Meanwhile, down in security . . .

The security guards in charge of keeping watch of the security cameras were hugging themselves to keep from squealing from cuteness indulgence overload. “Oh, look at him! He’s so cute!” she cooed to her co-worker. “He’s like a little baby when he sits down like that! And his cute little growl!” 

They were watching Torch setting off a stream of flames and getting hosed down before he shivered and sat down and pulled his knees up. His little mechanical growl pushed them over the edge and they squealed.

They re-winded the tape to when he woke up from his nap, typed down a few keys and pushed play. “Now let’s see what he’s saying!”

“ _Master? . . . Master! . . . . MASTER!! (echoes) . . . . Somebody? . . . Hello?_ ”

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH! SO CU-U-U-TE!!!!” they squealed and sent off the footage, keeping a copy for themselves and searched every video they could find that had the little metal child in it.

.

Chug walked through a pair of double-swing doors, peeling off a pair of rubber gloves, sighing tiredly and wiping his brow and plopped down in a chair and rubbed his eyes. Then he contacted Kokiri and relayed a message: “All injured parties tended to, Captain. No casualties, give or take a few snores. (yawn!) Has Torch been located?” he yawned.

“Yes he has and is on his way to you now. He’s being escorted by raptor, how are the other little fellas?” Kokiri asked.

“Received word about Blade. He had a bad fever for a while, but the coolant should reduce that and he was running low on his formula so I gave him a close variant. But his leg needs immediate surgery. If he were still a living organism it would need amputation stat before the blood clots up and gets infected.” Chug said.

“Has he received immediate treatment for his fever?” Kokiri asked.

“Yes, he has, he’s allowed a single visitor for now until he wakes up, then I’ll have him and his brothers transferred to my quarters for the leg replacement.” Chug said and stood up to stretch his legs when his office door bell rang. “Come.” he called and scratched his behind.

“ _I want my master! I want my master! I want . . . MASTER!_ ” Torch shouted, dangling from the teeth of a two foot tall velociraptor.

“Torch, my wee bairn, I thought I told you to stay with your brothers until I returned.” Chug said, taking hold of the metal puppet who scurried up to his neck and hugged him.

“Thank you Bogart.” he said, dismissing the raptor. “Did you get mad at them again?” he asked, holding Torch at arms length.

“ _It wasn’t my fault. Six started it._ ” Torch said petulantly.

“I know, I heard all about it.” Chug said, sitting back down and setting Torch down on his knee like a child. “Now, what was it he said that made you storm off?”

Torch brought his hand and flamethrower together and twiddled his thumb, looking very sheepish.

“Torch?”

“ _I don’t really remember._ ” Torch mumbled. “ _Tunneler said something about the formula and about your brother._ ”

“Toulon’s formula and my brother?”

“ _Yeah._ ”

“What about it?”

“ _Um, . . . something about . . . ori. . . origin . . . n-n, ori-gin-al-ity, I think._ ”

“The formula’s originality?”

“ _Yeah! Because Blade was sick and getting a bad fever and you said you were a Potions Master._ ”

“Oh! I think I know what he was talking about.” Chug smiled and stood up, carrying Torch like a child to a private room. “I think what your brother was talking about is that I made the original formula, and it’s original purpose was to act as a healing potion for cyborgs.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Remember what I told you about cyborgs?”

“ _(shakes head)_ ”

“Cyborgs are kind of like your brothers. They have mechanical parts infused with their organic parts so that they can continue with their lives.”

“ _Organic?_ ”

“Do you remember the brains you had to extract when you were first made?”

“ _(nods)_ ”

“Well, those brains are the organic parts, your brothers’ wooden parts and your own metal parts are the cybernetic parts.”

“ _So, I’m . . . part cyborg?_ ”

“You’re a simplified cyborg.” Chug said.

“ _Cyborg!_ ” Torch exclaimed, thrusting his arms up in the air.

“Oh, my wee bairn, do you want to be a real cyborg?” Chug smiled.

“ _Cyborg!_ ”

“Okay, but you’re gonna have to wait a while. I need to tend to your brother Blade first. He should be waking up soon and then, if he’ll allow it, go into surgery for a new leg.”

“ _Me cyborg._ ” Torch pouted and crossed his arms. “ _What does ‘wee bairn’ mean?_ ” he asked.

“It means ‘little child’.” Chug answered and set Torch down on the ground.

Torch was shocked for a moment, letting the news soak in. ‘ _Child?_ ’

“You stay here and be a good boy, my wee bairn, I’ve got to see to your brother.”

‘ _His wee bairn?_ ’ Torch turned around and looked up at his master as he left him alone in the private room. ‘ _His little child?_ ’ When the door closed he felt himself going into that same panic attack he had earlier when he was waiting in the hallway, breathing heavily. He ran to the door and started pounding on it. “ _Master! Master! Don’t go, Master!!_ ”


	19. Blade Awake/Baby Torch

Blade woke up to find himself in a dim room. He looked around, spotting Jester sitting in a chair nearby, his position suggesting that he was asleep. “ _Jester,_ ” he called softly. “ _Jester, wake up._ ”

Jester stirred around and shifted.

“ _Jester!_ ” Blade called more loudly, trying to sit up.

“ _Blade . . .? Are you awake?_ ” Jester mumbled, sitting up and stretching. “ _You’re awake!_ ” he said and went over to hug Blade.

“ _Where are the others?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _They’re still in the waiting room._ ” Jester answered.

They were startled when the curtain was drawn back, revealing Chug wearing a doctor’s uniform.

“Ah, you are avake.” he said in a Dracula accent. “How are you feeling?” he asked in a normal voice.

Blade hissed and Jester cooed.

“. . . Oh! Hang on a minute.” he said and put an earpiece in. “Ok, start talking while I adjust this thing, savvy?”

Blade hissed, looked at Jester who shrugged and cooed back. “ _Just what exactly are we suppose to talk about while he’s fiddling with his toys?_ ” Blade asked.

“A-ha, got it! And it could have been any subject, why are you still mad at me? I didn’t damage your leg.” Chug said, slightly offended.

“ _No, but you could have made it worse with your little butchering toys!_ ” Blade said, pointing his knife-less arm at him. “ _(Gasp!) Where’s my knife?! What’d you do with it?!_ ”

“I took it off so you wouldn't accidentally cut the IV cord. It’s sitting over there in the corner.” Chug said and pressed a button over Blade’s head, his stats screen lit up and Chug started taking notes.

“ _You can understand us now?_ ” Jester asked, looking in the corner to find Blade’s knife in a black leather sheath.

“Yeah, I’m an alien, I have the technology.” Chug smirked, making Jester giggle at the little joke. “Well, it seems your fever has gone back to normal levels. You were also a little low on your fuel, which has me worried about your brothers, and you had a small infection from the clay. But everything has been taken care of, and now I would like to make a proposal to you.”

“ _I don’t even have the slightest romantic feelings for you._ ” Blade deadpanned, making Chug laugh.

“You’re not my type anyway, just your fashion. But since we won the battle and are heading back to Earth, I could make you a new leg. The travel distance should give me plenty of time for the both of us.”

“ _Why would I be working with you on the new leg?_ ” Blade asked.

“I’m going to guess on why I would want you to work on the new leg with me and not the other way ‘round. That being said, you could give your own opinions about what you would like for your new leg.” Chug said in a slightly clipped tone, getting annoyed at Blade's attitude.

“ _Yeah, that’s what I meant. So does that mean I’m going to be put under again when you do perform the replacement surgery?_ ” Blade asked.

“No, I can numb the area if you want to watch the whole procedure.” Chug answered.

“ _Okay then, let’s go._ ”

“Would you allow me to carry you and your brothers for faster transportation or do you guys want to ride the megalograptus again?” Chug asked.

“ _Megalo-what?_ ” Blade questioned.

“The big red scorpion-like thing.” Chug answered.

“ _That thing’s scary._ ” Jester said. “ _The ride’s fun, but it’s scary._ ”

“It’s a smaller version of the real thing, but it works on getting things through.” Chug said, causing both Blade and Jester to look up at him faster than a whiplash.

“ _Real thing? The thing was once real?!_ ” Jester squeaked.

“Yeah, about as tall as the average earthling, wicked poisonous spines in its claws and has two sets of legs. One for walking and one for swimming. It’s tail is awesome too. It--” Chug stopped talking when he heard a soft thud and looked down to see Blade leaning over his bed, looking at the floor.

“ _He fainted._ ” he said.

“You know, I’m starting to think that Jester has arachnophobia.”

.

Blade gave the O.K for the new leg and the ride. He kept rubbing his knife-less arm, feeling a little defenseless without it. Chug had placed him and his brothers in the megalograptus ride, putting up a guard barrier when they saw that Jester was unconscious and tried to attack him. He told them that Jester had merely fainted while he was describing the meg to him and Blade.

“You know what B, you fill them in and I’ll meet you guys at my quarters. I’ve got to collect Torch, the poor bairn is having a separation attack.” Chug said and set the coordinates in the meg and set it on its way.

Six Shooter looked at Blade. “ _Bairn?_ ” he asked.

Blade just shrugged.

.

Torch had stopped pounding the door when he knew the master could no longer hear him and ran over to the desk, climbed up into the chair and sat down, pulling his knees up and stared at the door. He stayed like that for a good twenty minutes when master finally entered.

“ _Master!_ ” he called and jumped down from the chair and glomped onto a leg.

“Whoa, easy there my wee bairn.” Chug said and lifted him up for a quick hug. “And please don’t call me master. It makes me feel over-indulgent.”

“ _But you’re my master._ ” Torch said.

“Aye, but I don’t like to be called that. You can call me Kid, Doctor, Doc, Coon, The Younger Brother or Boss, just not master, savvy, my wee bairn?” Chug asked, smiling.

“ _Okay, uh, Boss._ ”

“Now, I have a very important question to ask you.”

Torch was at full attention.

“Did you miss me?”

“ _Yes, very much._ ” Torch answered, burying his head in the crook of Chug’s neck.

“I missed you too. Now, come along. Your brothers should be at my door now.”


	20. Putting Six in his Place

“ _So this ride is called a megalograptus and is designed off a real creature?_ ” Six asked.

“ _That’s what the Doc said._ ” Blade said with a shrug. “ _And Jester has arachnophobia._ ”

“ _What’s arachnophobia?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _The fear of Spiders is my guess._ ” Blade answered. 

“ _But he wasn’t always scared of spiders. What happened?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _He said he was attacked by three tarantulas and two scorpions._ ” Six said.

“ _Oh, well, that would explain his newfound fear of them._ ” Blade said.

“ _Ooh, you know something that we don’t. Spill._ ” Six said. As much as Six loved to be a macho man, he also loved to gossip and then keep the new information from Torch.

“ _No, not until everyone is gathered, that includes Torch. We know you like to keep information from him._ ” Blade said.

“ _Aw, come on, this sounds very interesting._ ” Six pleaded.

“ _No._ ”

“ _If you tell me I won’t pick on Torch anymore. Jester will be included._ ” Six said, grinning.

“ _No._ ”

“ _But Blade,--_ ”

“ _No, Six. You need to tone down your arrogance or else the brother will eat you._ ” Blade said.

Six crossed his arms, turned his back and pouted. ‘ _It’s not being eaten that worries me._ ’ he thought, picturing the grinning brimstone wolf with its burning red eyes in his head and shuddered. ‘He said I don’t have enough greed. So I just need to watch my gimmes.’ he grinned.

The megalograptus arrived at Chug’s door and lowered itself with the sci-fi vehicle trill and landed on its walking legs, but the clear dome barrier that Chug erected hadn’t moved so they were stuck in there.

“ _So-o, how do we get out of this thing?_ ” Six asked.

Jester groaned and stirred.

“ _Jessie’s finally waking up._ ” Six smiled.

“ _Don’t call me Jessie._ ” Jester mumbled, rubbing his head and sat up. “ _What happened?_ ” he asked, looking around for Blade.

“ _You fainted, Little One._ ” Blade said.

“ _Yeah, I gathered that. I mean, before that?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _The Kid was describing the megalograptus to us and you fainted when he started on the tail._ ” Blade said.

“ _Mega-wha-?_ ”

“This red scorpion like thing we’re riding in.” Six smirked.

“ _S-S-Scorpion?_ ” Jester whimpered.

“ _Don’t worry. It’s not a real one. It’s entirely mechanical._ ” Blade said, giving Six a look who just shrugged and twiddled all six of his thumbs.

“ _When did this fear happened, Jess?_ ” Tunneler asked, Blade cleared his throat. “ _I’m curious._ ”

“ _Yeah, Blade, we’re curious._ ” Six grinned, and snickered when Blade glared at him.

“ _We’re gonna wait til Torch is with us._ ” Blade said.

The door finally opened and they all saw Torch clinging onto Chug’s leg like a little child does with its parent and was laughing with glee.

“Alright, Torch, you’ve had your fun. My leg’s getting tired. Now, head back inside and up the desk with you, bairn.” Chug said, lifting Torch up and grabbing him and then setting him back down. Torch looked up and saw that his brothers were watching and ran back inside like a scared animal. “Alright, inside with you lot.” Chug said, stepping aside for the megalograptus to walk in.

“ _You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Torch laugh before._ ” Jester whispered to Blade.

“Glad to hear you’re awake Jester.” Chug said and Jester covered his mouth in surprise, forgetting that Chug could now understand them.

“ _I forgot he can understand us now._ ” Jester whispered.

“ _The kid can understand us now?_ ” Tunneler asked in a whisper.

“ _Since when?!_ ” Six asked loudly.

“Since Blade woke up from his fever.” Chug answered from across the room. “Not only can I understand you guys now, but this earpiece heightens my hearing as well and is attuned to your specific brainwaves so I’ll know when you’re bad mouthing my wee bairn.”

“ _Bairn? Torch isn’t a child, he’s--_ ”

Chug snatched Six Shooter up in a hand and squeezed. “Keep talking cowboy and I’ll put you in a pink tutu I specially made for you.”

Six noticed the glare was just as fierce as the brother’s and motioned zipping his lips. The kid wasn’t bluffing.

“Good. You keep an eye on that filter between your brain and your mouth we should get along just fine.” Chug said and set him down gently.

“ _Well, seems Six has found his match with these brothers._ ” Jester smirked. “ _A powerful older brother who can changed forms and reverse immortality and a brother who can sew clothes, work with cyborgs, is a potions master and collects girly movies for use as punishment._ ” Jester giggled mischievously.

“Oh, there’s much more to us than that.” Chug said, setting a table up for an operation. “Kegs is a Space Captain, Landowner, Professional Assassin, Racer, is immune to poisons, bullets and virtually unstoppable. He also has mastered all six elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and Dark and is extremely protective of me.” Chug said, placing the last item down and heading over to the meg and removed the dome barrier and lifted Blade and Jester out, carried them over to the table and set them down.

“ _And what about you?_ ” Blade asked.

“I’m more skillful than magical.” was all Chug said and motioned Blade to sit down in the stainless steel chair.

Blade was reluctant to sit back in one of those chairs again, his last memories of the experience not pleasant, but limped over and sat down.

“I’m not going to strap you in just yet. You need to pick out the new leg first before I start the actual work.” Chug said, setting up a screen and mouse for Jester to use and selected all available left legs suitable for one his size, as well as models for the other sized people.

“ _Part dragon? Really?_ ” Jester asked excitedly.

“ _Eh, I’d look too weird where one leg is longer than the other._ ” Blade said and clicked for the next image. This one looked normal enough but the weight suggested it would weigh more than Blade. He wouldn’t be able lift it off the ground to take his first step. The next image was for a ballerina and Jester immediately clicked past it at Blade’s appalled scream.

Chug placed Pinhead, Tunneler and Six Shooter on the table with them so they all could have a say, but it was ultimately Blade’s choice in the end. Confidant that they were preoccupied with the thousands of choices they had to make, he went into his room to check on Torch.

“ _Did they see me?_ ” Torch asked.

“I’m pretty sure they did, but I don’t think they’ll let you know they did. But Six Shooter seems to be the bigger threat, yeah?” Chug asked, settling down the bed, placing Torch next to him.

“ _Six always teases me and the others._ ” Torch mumbled, fiddling with his flamethrowing arm.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Kegs has some videos from your last three masters. It seems you boys were all abandoned because of this Sutekh guy.” Chug said, handing Torch a bristled hair brush for him to dust himself. “These blankets need a good wash anyhow, might as well get you cleaned up at the same time.” he smiled and patted his head and left. “I’ll be back later, ok? You just stay here and watch your brothers.” He flicked on a TV screen, showing the other puppets all still gathered around Blade and looking at legs.

“ _A high-heeled female leg with fishnets?! Hell no!!!_ ” shouted Blade, kicking his feet, the others laughing at him.


	21. Searching and Choosing

Blade was getting bored and tired from looking through so many legs. Some he wouldn’t be caught DEAD having as a part of his body. Others were too appalling and embarrassing to even think about. Like women’s legs, why the kid would include those on the list when he knew fully well that Blade was a guy he would never understand.  
A lot of them looked normal enough, very few were actually made of wood, but the details stated that they wouldn’t match him. They were made from tiger wood, chestnut, walnut, pine, birch, red wood, cedar and yew to name a few. He didn’t know there were so many different kinds of wood!

Well, he did, but he used to be a doctor, not a botanist.

Then there were some legs that were made from metal which looked very tempting. Stainless steel, solid iron, copper, gold, silver, titanium steel, brass, nickel. But most of them were too heavy for is little body. The solid iron was automatically out, it being too heavy for him to walk around in, and there was the magnetic problem.

The stainless steel seemed like a better choice. It would be durable enough to withstand any brute force, but the durability depended on its thickness and weight. The magnetic problems weren’t too much of a problem. It wasn’t too attracted to magnets, but there would be subtle pulls and pushes, depending on its combination. Plus the thicker the steel, the less room there would be for the IV cord for the formula to get through.

Copper wasn't very attracted to magnets and needed a lot of folding to make it as durable as stainless steel. But it was the best choice for use against deadly germs; but it also rusted quickly and Blade wasn’t keen on becoming a regular patient of the kid for constant treatments.

Gold . . . no, just . . . no. Too flashy. Light weight, no magnetic trouble, didn’t need a lot of folding for durability, and its molecular structure stated that it didn’t like to share its space with anything else so there was no danger of getting any rust or germs. But it was just too flashy. He could hear Six now, cracking jokes and calling him names like, Gold Leg, Captain Gold, Goldie, Gold Peg.

Silver on the other hand . . . it would match with his blade and hook in color at least. It would need to buffered from time to time to keep it shining like new. It was like gold in all the complicated variants, bu-u-ut . . . he wanted to see about the titanium steel. Its shine quality looked better than the silver and the stainless steel.

The titanium steel looked very pleasing indeed. Very light weight, no magnetic trouble, two foldings for reliable durability, and could be made skinny enough to represent a bone structure, leaving plenty of room for the IV cord. But therein lied the problem. Plenty of room.

Brass and nickel were similar as copper and silver.

“ _Did you pick one yet, Blade?_ ” Six asked, scratching his bum with one arm, resting his head in another and his middle arms were scratching his belly and back.

“ _Who knew there were so many ways to make a leg?_ ” Jester groaned tiredly and yawned.

Pinhead and Tunneler had nodded off as well, conserving their fluids.

“ _The titanium steel seems to be the best one._ ” Blade said.

“ _But . . . ?_ ” yawned Six.

“ _It would leave too much room for the IV cord. It would jostle around too much and get damaged._ ” Blade said.

“So, made your choice yet?” Chug asked, coming out of his room.

“ _Titanium._ ” Six yawned and fell asleep, pulling his hat down to cover his eyes.

“Do you guys need more juice?” Chug asked.

“ _We’re fine._ ” Jester mumbled and curled up near Blade’s chair. “ _Jus’ tired from searching._ ”

“Yeah, I can understand that.” Chug said, heading over to Blade and looking at the screen to see his choice.

“Titanium Steel, very nice. It’s light, and can fit inside a new carved piece of wood. The wood would have to be yew or aspen to match your own skin color. Paint should cover any blemishes from the wood and if there’s any extra space I could always fill it up with a shock absorbent so it wouldn’t jostle the IV cord too much.” Chug said.

“ _Well, problem solved then. The titanium one._ ” Blade said and sat back to prepare for the operation.

“ _You still have some time yet before the operation starts. Would you like to have some company while you wait? I can give your brothers some extra juice._ ” Chug asked.

Blade looked thoughtful and pointed at Jester.

“Just Jester?”

“ _Yes._ ”

“Alright, where do I insert?” Chug asked, getting a tired chuckle from Six. “Someone’s got a dirty mind.” he mumbled and Six chuckled some more.

“ _The back of the neck or in the chest._ ” Blade answered, trying to point at the exact locations of where the needle needed to be placed.

“ _I’ll guide the needle._ ” Jester mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Chug grabbed a syringe and inserted it into the same variant he had given Blade. Jester guided the needle and the fluid was inserted.

“Blimey, you can eat.” Chug smiled and extracted the needle and brought out an extra chair for Jester to sit in

“ _Father used to say I have such a big appetite._ ” Jester replied, sitting down in the chair.

“Now, you guys can watch a few films or look up my history while I work on the new leg. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.” Chug said, placing a laptop in front of them and left the living space back to his room.

.

Torch had fallen asleep from watching his brothers the whole time they were choosing legs when Chug walked in. Chug smiled, having given Torch a refill of the formula before answering his front door so he wasn’t worried about him running low and suddenly freezing up like they do when they ran out of fuel.  
He decided to let him sleep, tucking a doll version of himself under the little pyro’s arm who immediately snuggled into it.

‘My wee bairn.’ he thought and bent over and kissed the metal helmet, petted him and left through another room.


	22. Searching up The Brothers

“ _The kid’s history? What an opportunity!_ ” Jester said and typed away on the laptop.

“ _Jess, we don’t even know what to search for. He goes by a lot of names you know. A lot of common names._ ” said Blade.

“ _But how many people out there go by the name of Chug?_ ” Jester asked and typed in the one name, the results cropping up party tricks and people guzzling from beer bongs. “ _. . . Oh._ ” 

“ _Well, how about his brother? He has an unusual name._ ” Blade suggested.

Jester hovered over the keys. “ _Uh, what’s his name again?_ ”

“ _Oh, this is gonna take forever._ ” Blade pouted and sat back to think about how to get information of the two brothers.

“ _Well, I could try to search for professional racers that are landowners and maybe Bodega Bay can help as well._ ” Jester said and started typing away. He was very grateful that one of their past masters was a Book Keeper like himself and had taught him how to use a computer.

The results showed some promise. There was one unusual name among all the other ones, in fact it was the top of the list: Kokiri Yusaga.

“ _He owns that many lands?_ ” Jester whispered. “ _That’s like half the world!_ ”

“ _Find out all his professions._ ” Blade suggested and Jester did just that.

Kokiri Yusaga, a.k.a Kegs, a.k.a The Blue Fox, a.k.a The Howling Blue Fox, a.k.a The Assassin, a.k.a The Brother (when talking about the two brothers), a.k.a Captain Boss . . .

“ _Cor, he’s got a lot of aliases._ ” Jester mumbled and scrolled down to professions.

Voluntary police work, Highway Patrol, Racer, Business Management, Mob Boss.

“ _Mob Boss?!_ ” exclaimed Blade and Jester.

“ _That’s it. There’s no more._ ” Jester said.

“ _Well, that’s just public records, Jess. Of course they wouldn’t list everything._ ” Blade said. “ _What about his hobbies?_ ”

Hobbies: Piano playing (hates to be called pianist), car collecting, driving, modeling for his brother, swimming, fishing, surfing, diving, reading by the fire, collects old records,

“ _You know, I don’t think this search includes the alien part of them._ ” Jester said, typing in the search bar to look up Chug.

Chug Yamazaki, a.k.a The Kid, a.k.a The Younger Brother, a.k.a The Coon Kid, a.k.a The Generous Lord.

“ _Generous Lord?_ ” Jester questioned.

“ _Generous my wooden ass._ ” Blade grumbled, still sore about the events from the cabin.

Jester looked up the things The Kid owned and saw Blade’s jaw drop.

Thirty restaurants, twelve hospitals, forty orphanages, twenty animal shelters, three recording studios, two animation studios, ten private clubs, four beaches, thirty islands, fifty private houses, sixty junkyards . . .

“ _These brothers are rich!_ ” Jester breathed.

“ _What are his hobbies?_ ” Blade asked eagerly.

Hobbies: music making, tinkering, cooking, magic, crafts, chemistry, engineering

“ _You know, I’d like to find the details of this stuff._ ” Blade grumbled, leaning back in seat at the lack of details.

“ _This must just be the Earth records._ ” Jester said and tried to see if there was space ‘net.

The first search when he typed in the names ‘The Blue Fox’ and ‘Younger Brother’ it came up with their picture. Chug had his arms wrapped around Kokiri and was smiling a big smile, Kokiri was also smiling but it wasn’t as big, it was more of a smirk. Kokiri didn’t look any different then from how he looked now. Black turtleneck, dark sunglasses, long lavender hair, pale skin.

Chug on the other hand looked much younger with those bright blue eyes. He looked like he was having the time of his life with his brother. Like they were on vacation or something.

The Chug they had met at the cabin seemed like he was always tired and low on energy. At first they thought it was just exhaustion. With the professions he’d given them they all required heavy concentration and he also did a lot pf physical activity as well. But the picture showed that he held a lot of energy and his eyes didn’t shine like they did in the picture.

“ _He looks so happy in this picture, what do you suppose happened to him for him to seem so down and tired all the time?_ ” Jester questioned.

Blade shrugged.

There was a ring at Chug's door and they heard the sound of something exploding in the next room. Chug came out a minute later, coughing and waving smoke out of his face with his hat, revealing soot on his face, hair and shirt.

“Come!” he rasped as loud as he could and coughed some more, heading towards the other end of the room.

The door opened and Kokiri entered, Jester noticing a slight sway in his hips when he walked. He tilted his head at the sight. “ _You know you have--_ ”

“No I don’t.” Kokiri automatically answered, not letting Jester finish his sentence.

“ _You didn’t me finish!_ ” Jester protested.

“Don’t have to, hear it all the time and I don’t have it.” Kokiri said, looking around. “Where’s my brother?” he asked.

Blade and Jester pointed to their right, Kokiri nodded his thanks and headed over.

“ _Seems a bit rude, don’t you think?_ ” Blade whispered.

“You try being a Captain working from a four hour rest seven days ago on an empty belly with 5500 people to look after! Kids included!” Kokiri snapped.

“ _Okay, he’s not only powerful, but cranky._ ” Jester said, scooting closer to Blade.

“Don’t snap at them Kegs. What’s up?” Chug asked, toweling his hair.

“One of the orcas sighted a Sukka probe heading for Earth. I need you to stop whatever it is you’re working on so we can get maximum speed to catch up with it and do you have anything to eat? I’m starving!” Kokiri said in a rush.

“There should be some cold cuts in the mini fridge and I don’t have enough titanium I need to make the leg bone anyway. So, go right ahead.” Chug said, gathering Tunneler and placing him in another chair. “He needs cleaning anyway.” he added. “Six is all yours though!” he shouted at Kokiri’s retreating back. “No way I’m gonna have ol’ cowboy shoot me in the face when his guns are free.” he mumbled and gave Tunneler some extra fluid to wake him.


	23. Photo Album

Chug waited for Tunneler to fully waken so he could let him know what he was going to do. Tunneler was delighted to have his drill finally cleaned after two days, and asked if he could get it to work again.

“I’ll try my best. The space between the base of your drill and your head is very slim.” Chug said and grabbed all the cleaning tools he had.

“ _What about my leg?_ ” Blade asked, really wanting to get out of the chair and walk around.

“I don’t have enough material for the bone structure, the last of it went to repairs in the engine room. Titanium steel is a popular choice but the raw material is stored away at one of my safes.” Chug said, putting a sci-fi screen above Tunneler, the same kind he used on Blade back at the cabin, placed a barber’s sheet around him and began his work.  
He used a wide fan brush to brush first to get any fine residue left on the drill, then used a stiff brush to sweep it, and finally a compressed air duster for the finer grains before wiping him down with a damp cloth and polishing him. He fitted the air duster with a thinner nozzle and sprayed in the slim space, watching as a big poof of dust exploded from the back if Tunneler’s head.

“Pray that Six didn’t see that.” he said, the puppets nodding. Jester covered his mouth to try and stifle his giggle until he started to shake.

“ _Go ahead, Jess._ ” Tunneler sighed and Jester let loose. Jester laughed so hard he fell and rolled around, holding his stomach and kicking his feet in the air.

Chug grabbed a brush with long, soft bristles and wedged it between the slim base, getting more white dust and finally used a black needle thread to floss between. The thread suddenly caught on something and snagged.

“Um, . . .” Chug gently pulled at the thread but it didn’t move. “Is there any chance that your drill can be removed?”

“ _Yes, but I rather you wouldn’t._ ” Tunneler said.

“How ‘bout a private room?” Chug asked.

Tunneler looked thoughtful then nodded.

Chug picked up the chair Tunneler was sitting in and took him through his bedroom and through the other room. The other room revealed to be a workshop and chemical lab.

“Alright, how do you remove your drill?”

.

Jester had finally calmed down and climbed back into his chair, still giggling. “ _You know, I don’t mind having a master that doesn’t keep watch on us all the time, but . . . I don’t like being left alone with nothing to do._ ” he panted.

“ _Me neither, but at least you’re not confined to sit on your butt all day._ ” Blade said.

“ _True, but I don’t see any real books anywhere. Or a sketch pad or ---_ ”

“ _Well then have a look around and tell me what you find._ ” Blade suggested, getting a headache from Jester’s whining. He loved Jester, he really did, but man could he whine!

Jester hopped out of the chair and looked around as Blade suggested, calling out things he spotted. “ _Hey! A book!_ ” he exclaimed happily, nabbed it and scurried back up the desk and sat in his chair so that Blade could see its contents as well. “ _It’s a photo album!_ ”

“ _Finally! Something useful!_ ” Blade said and leaned forward to get a better look.

Jester opened the book to show that it was the Brothers’ baby photo album. The first picture was a small 3x3 picture framed in lace of two infants spooning, in their pajamas and sleeping. The infants looked like animals instead of aliens. One had blue hair and tail that resembled a fox’s tail, long lashes, wearing a blue space nebula jammies and was spooned up behind the other one, an arm around the other’s waist. The other one was smaller, had a black ringed tail like a racoon, a full bandit mask, brown hair and was wearing a pale pink onesies with white footies.

The Blue Fox and the Coon Kid was printed in fancy curls underneath it.

“ _Wasn’t one of Kokiri’s aliases The Blue Fox?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _I think so._ ” Blade answered.

Jester turned the page and found the same picture from the net. The footnote stating their age, the day and what was happening at the time. Chug was seventeen years old and Kokiri was eighteen. The date stated October 25, 1934 and that they were vacationing in New York, New York.

“ _1934?! That can’t be right._ ” Blade said.

“ _Aliens, Blade. Maybe they can time travel._ ” Jester said and turned the page.

The next picture was monochromatic and it was of Kokiri sitting at the piano. The picture was at an angle capturing his face in perfect lighting. The details said Kokiri was eighteen, they were at one of their homes in Detroit, Michigan, also vacationing. The year was 1993.

“ _Yep, time travel._ ” Jester said and turned the page.

The next picture was of Kokiri again, except they seemed to be at a castle or a hotel because Kokiri was leaning on a stone balcony, his attention at the camera and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. The picture showed his eye color to be dark emerald green, and he his lashes seemed to be longer and his shirt was a dark blue. His expression looked to be either tired or bored, they couldn’t tell. The footnote saying he was eighteen, and was on leave for some RxR.

The next picture was of Kokiri again, but it wasn’t a close up. They were clearly at a Caribbean beach because the picture was that of Kokiri surfing a large crystal clear aquamarine wave that was curling over. The picture also showed three large black fins in the background behind Kokiri.

*Kegs surfing with the orcas.*

The next one was a profile shot of Kokiri with orange city lights blurred in the background. The next one had him again bathing in a pond and smirking at the camera without his glasses, another one where he was completely nude but his tail provided a little decency, his back was turned and he was smirking at the camera again and without his glasses again.

Most of the album’s contents consisted of Kokiri. There were maybe two or three pictures that had both of them in it, one made Jester sad and nearly cry. It was of Kokiri again, in his usual black attire, but he was in bed with an old looking grey-haired woman who he held in his arms. The footnote said it was the first and last time he slept with his mom.

There was another one that was a bigger version of the small 3x3 picture, the note stating, *Two Brothers sleeping together for the first time. Picture taken by Amanda.*

“ _There’s no date?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Nope._ ” said Jester and flipped the final page.

It was the brothers, the old lady and another person all sitting around a campfire. Chug was sitting next to the new person, holding an acoustic guitar, the new person held a violin, the old lady had a tambourine and Kokiri was roasting a fish over the fire, wearing his sunglasses.

“ _Who wears sunglasses in the middle of the night?_ ” Blade pondered. “ _The guy’s truly weird._ ”

“ _It says they were camping at their Colorado Ranch, Amanda’s last night with her adopted son._ ” Jester said, feeling very sad.

“ _Does it list names?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Kegs, Chug, Amanda and Panther._ ” Jester answered. 

“ _Well, we know who Chug and Kegs are, Amanda must be the old lady, so that leaves Panther as the last person._ ” Blade said.

“ _Well, it’s clear that the Kid is very fond of his brother. The album’s nearly full of him._ ” Jester said.

Noise came from the direction of Chug’s room and they looked to find Torch emerging from the room, rubbing his eyes and . . . cooing? The image burned into their brains screamed ‘BABY!’ and then it hit them. Torch was a baby. He was still practically an infant, and Jester cooed himself and thought Torch looked absolutely adorable he cooed loudly, almost squealing.

Torch looked up, eyes flashing in surprise when he heard Jester’s familiar coo. “ _Guys! Wha . . . What are you doing here?_ ” he asked, backing up towards the room.

“Blade needed surgery for his leg but the kid hasn’t got all the parts so he went to clean Tunneler’s drill and now here we are!” Jester said happily, his hands up in the air.

“ _Um, how are the others?_ ” Torch asked, bringing his arms up close to his chest and backing up some more.

“ _Six and Pinhead are asleep._ ” Blade said, watching Torch.

“ _Okay, um, where’s uh, . . ._ ” Torch began but turned and ran back in the room.

“ _Aw, he’s shy._ ” Jester cooed. “ _He really is just a baby, after all._ ”

“ _Yeah, I s’pose you’re right._ ” Blade sighed and leaned back in his chair for some shut eye. “ _Wake me when we’re back on Earth._ ”

.

Back on Earth near the Bodega Bay coast a shooting star flew into the horizon. It was night time so the star was easy to see, but it wasn't a shooting star. It was a small alien probe crashing into the ocean.


	24. Back at Bodega Bay

“Helm, park her behind the moon and make sure she stays out of sight. Kid, we’re here. What do your scanners say about the Inn?” Kokiri asked.

“So far everything’s quiet. But all guards have been notified and the aerial patrol haven’t spotted anything unusual yet.” Chug answered over the comm link.

“Gather the Toulons, we’ve got a bit of traveling to do before we reach the hotel. See you down below.” Kokiri said and left the bridge.

.

Chug gathered all the puppets and put them in the megalograptus ride, having given them all some extra juice, and headed over to the transport room.

“We’re not exactly over Bodega Bay so we can’t just beam right on down. We’re nearly halfway across the world from it so we’re gonna have to do some flying when we transport.” Chug said, trotting down the hallway.

“ _We’re not gonna fly in another car, are we?_ ” Blade asked.

“Just Kegs, we’ll be in my hat.” Chug said and entered the transporter room. Once there he placed all the puppets in his hat and told them not to touch anything until he gets there, stepped on the transport, grabbed a tight hold on his hat and beamed away in a flash of light.

.

Kokiri ran down to the cargo bay that held his cars. He had selected a blue 2015 blue velvet metallic Chevy Camero and started its engine and drove onto the runway and then shut it back off. The car was encased into a meteorite shell and then catapulted into space. He steered the meteorite towards Earth and started its descent. Soon the car was shaking from the gravitational pull and outside temperatures read that the meteor was burning up and dissolving. A loud cracking boom signified that he had entered the atmosphere and then a timer started counting down from twenty seconds. Once it reached zero he started the engine again, pressed a few buttons and the car was transformed into a small private plane and flew towards California.

.

Chug was transported right in the middle of a night sky and was free falling. He gripped his hat tighter and pulled himself through, now the hat was doing the free falling. “Alright, one side gentlemen, I need control.” he said and sat down in a chair and started typing away on his six different keyboards. Each keyboard was for the six screens he had paneled in two rows of threes.

One screen was reading the horizon level that was, at the moment, all over the place, another was the speedometer, one was doubled-screened that had the altimeter and fuel readings, another was reading weather control. The fifth screen had a picture of the world map and was tracking them and the last screen was focused on Bodega Bay.

The horizon level stabilized and the altimeter numbers were going into normal air space for planes, the fuel readings was a single green level that at the moment stayed green but was starting to get a slightly yellow tinge to it. Weather in their current area was reading O.K. and the puppets could only guess that the second dot on the tracker screen was the brother.

“Ok, we’re stable enough. Now, let’s hit the gas.” Chug said and turned on another screen for the puppets to watch.

The screen was of the outside and at first they slumped back in their chairs not wanting to watch nothing but sky and clouds zoom by.

“Engaging safety belts for your safety needs.” Chug said, pressing a few buttons and then grabbed the steering handles and pushed them all the way down into a full descent.  
The screen the puppets were watching showed that they were descending onto a major city and they screamed.

The red dot that was them on the world map was blipping across Asia and Europe at a fast pace, then suddenly made a U-turn and started blipping the other way. The puppets flight view was intense to say the least. Chug was a maniac flyer in Blade’s opinion. They zoomed through tightly packed cities, alleyways, traffic and and even did a last minute upturn when they closed in on a skyscraper.

They flew into a fast rising sun as they were entering the western hemisphere from the east and soon Bodega Bay was within their sights and coming up fast. They flew past it and Chug flew straight up into he air and slowed down then flew back to the Inn at a more leisurely pace.

“Alright boys, we’ll be landing soon so you can relax.” Chug said, descending into the driveway close to the front door.

Blade’s hook had punctured the arm-rest of his chair from gripping so hard, his dagger eyes had popped out, his hissing was coming in short spurts and he was pressed back in his chair as far as he could. Tunneler, Pinhead and Six Shooter were the same. Six’s middle arms were gripping the arm rests, the third pair gripped below the arm-rests and the top arms had the sides of his chair. Jester and Torch were the only ones who enjoyed the ride, laughing their heads off in glee.

“ _Let’s go again!_ ” Jester shouted, snapping Blade into action when the seat belts were removed. He immediately hopped out of his chair, wounded leg or not, and demanded to be let out at once.

“ _AT ONCE, I TELL YOU!! AT ONCE!!_ ” he shouted, shaking his hook at Chug. “ _I’d stomp my foot if I had a spare leg to stand on!_ ”

“Alright, alright, hold your horses.” Chug smirked and landed his hat on the ground in front of the doors. He unbuckled himself and exited, Blade immediately following and jumping out of the hat and straight up into the air. Chug caught him midair so he would go splat on the concrete porch.

“Easy there tiger, you wouldn’t want to be put into a full body cast now, would you?” he asked, mischievous smirk on his face.

Blade shook his head vigorously and allowed himself to be carried inside.

Once inside, Chug set him on the coffee table in the lounge lobby and removed the rest of the puppets from his hat and set them next to Blade.

“Alrighty, get your land legs back, take a nap and I’ll be right back. Torch, you stay with your brothers, and if Six gives you any trouble I have his new silk outfit in powder blue.” Chug said, smirking when Six Shooter shuddered, then left the room.

Six looked at Torch who looked back and they went their separate ways, Torch going over to the fireplace and Six headed for the piano. Pinhead went over to the doorway and stood by on watch. Jester helped Blade sit up and down off the coffee table.

“ _So, we’re finally back home._ ” he said to the quiet room.

.

.


	25. Working on the Leg/Torch Makes New Friends

Kokiri Yusaga landed too far north of California and decided to drive all the way down to Bodega Bay. He didn’t mind, he knew Chug knew what he was doing. His brother had the best security system in the whole world. His guards were entirely animal. He had guard dogs, cats, birds, mice and rats. The spiders he had on the surveillance team were purely animatronic with sophisticated programming. Some were designed to be just cameras, others were for auditory sounds, those traveled in groups of eight. Others were big enough for cybernetic engineering and were for the battlefields.

Chug didn’t only employ spiders, though. He had some other insects on the job as well. A whole army of crickets and ants served as communications and the social network for the animals. Chug also had some color-coded ants for different purposes. There were the green ants for medical, black ants for engineering and red ants for battle.

The crickets were also color-coded. There were brown leaf crickets that were solely for communication and the network and small green crickets for tracking. Grasshoppers were also included in this group. There were butterflies used as code messengers, each different species for different messages, and cockroaches for infiltration. House spiders and Daddy long legs were in this group.

There were scorpions also on the team but depending on their size, they varied in different field work. The small common yellow desert scorpions were in engineering, medical and science. The larger ones were for the armory and the largest ones of 12 inches and over were in the battlefields. They worked with the tarantulas.

Nonetheless, Kokiri had his laptop opened and was keeping an eye on the goings on at the Inn. He switched on the radio and relaxed.

.

Chug had gathered all the tools he needed for Blade’s new leg. He decided to melt a titanium leg he had in storage and reshape it to fit Blade. He held pieces of yew wood for carving, a small bag of saw dust and his carving tool bag in his arms. He looked around for his computer and one other item he needed. It was a 3D scanner so he could scan Blade, take some X-rays and later fiddle around with the computerized image for his amusement. He might even do the same with the others and see how they turn out.

He found the last item, placed it in a large bag, along with the tools in his arms, put his computer in a carrying case, grabbed a few extra things and left to return to the puppets.

When he returned, he found all the puppets were asleep. He smiled down at Torch, put his things down quietly and carefully lifted him up like a toddler and set him on the couch. Torch barely stirred before re-positioning himself to get more comfortable.

Chug quietly removed the large scanner and set it near the coffee table. He put a metal slab that could shift into a chair in the middle of the table, a small clear tank that held four little scorpions and four little spiders was placed to the left of the slab. He put the spare titanium leg near the fireplace, along with the smelting tools, and a small black anvil. He placed a tank containing four red scorpions near the fireplace as well.

An easy-bake oven, some paint, colored pencils and over-all craft section was placed in a large area away from the work stations and piano but still within sight. He only had three computers with him and he was going to use all of them, besides, he might get hungry in the middle of the procedure so might as well let the other fellas occupy themselves with arts, crafts and making him small snacks. He left a How To: book there and instructions for the easy bake oven.

He switched on his computers, plugged in the tank that held the scorpions and spiders to one, the 3D scanner to another and the last one was hooked to the metal slab.

Then he headed over to the fireplace to start the fire, but there were no matches. He went over to Torch and woke him.

“Torch, I need your help.” he whispered, gently shaking the metal one. “My wee bairn, up and at ‘em.” he cooed.

“ _Master?_ ” Torch asked, sitting up and stretching.

“What have I told you about calling me that?” Chug gently chastised.

“ _Oh, sorry Boss._ ” Torch said.

“Now, I need some fire power to melt some metal but there’s no matches anywhere, could you start the fire for me, please?” Chug asked, setting Torch down on the ground and went over to the fireplace.

.

Night had fallen by the time Kokiri arrived. When he entered the lounge room he found a roaring fire, Torch stirring a pot of silvery liquid, Blade placed on the metal slab, Six Shooter reading through a book in a crafts section, Pinhead and Tunneler stirring something in a mini pink plastic mixing bowl and Jester posing in the 3D scanner getting scanned, his 3D image showing up on a computer screen, much to Blade’s amusement.

Chug was pouring some melted metal into a smelter and then started carving on a piece of wood while the metal cooled.

“Ah, Kegs, you’re back. Can you lend a hand with the cooling process?” Chug asked.

Kokiri walked over to the fireplace and placed a hand over the melted metal and soon loud hissing was heard and the room filled with hot steam.

The puppets panicked at the sudden coverage and took cover. Torch aimed his flamethrower in Kokiri’s direction, thinking he was attacking his master. Jester climbed up to hide behind Blade, Pinhead stood as cover for Six and Tunneler, shielding his eyes.

The steam cleared up fast though because Chug had opened a window and turned on a fan. Torch still had his flamethrower aimed at Kokiri and was growling and his eyes were bright. Jester peeked out from behind Blade's chair, Tunneler and Six doing the same from behind Pinhead.

Kokiri brought the cooled metal rod out and handed it to Chug who gave it a pointe blank look from both ends.

“It’s uneven, but shouldn’t be a problem.” Chug said and put it back on a rack over the fire and continued carving.

“Okay, I’ll be down at the beach fishing.” Kokiri said and left.

“Ok, bye.” Chug waved and took the metal rod out, set it down on the small anvil and started hammering away at it, the loud ringing too loud for the puppets sensitive ears.

“Sorry, head over to the coffee table and I’ll put a shield up.” Chug said and they all obeyed, and relaxed when the shield silenced the noise to a dull bong.

“ _I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so loud!_ ” Jester groaned and slid down to the floor.

“ _Torch is lucky. The sound doesn’t seem to bother him much._ ” Six grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at Torch who was the only one not with them.

“ _Oh, don’t count on it, Six._ ” Blade called from above. “ _The kid just put ear muffs on him and himself._ ”

“ _I can see that._ ” Six growled, gripping his arms tighter and glared harder at Torch. He didn’t like Torch for a reason, beside the fact that he had animal brains, Torch was completely made from scratch. Torch was a true life form brought to life from scraps of metal and, man, Six did not like it! Dead Toulon had managed to create actual life from nothing and it burned. Torch would have made an excellent general!

Blade had told him about Torch’s lack of emotion when he made his first kill and never questioned what was asked of him when given an assignment. He sounded perfect for the battlefield and it all went to waste!!

.

“Nearly done with the bone.” Chug mumbled and gave it one more slam with his hammer then dipped the metal rod in a bucket of water, steam hissing out of it. “All done! Now, Torch, I’m gonna do some slight adjustments to your flamethrower so you can help me some more, ok? Let me know if it hurts.” Chug said, holding up a thin silver hooked nozzle. “This is so your flame can burn at a faster rate and make it even hotter, would you like to see that?” he asked.

Torch jumped up and down, clapping his hands and held up his flame arm.

“Eager little lad, aren’t you?” Chug smiled and added the nozzle no problem and added an adjuster. “Now, light ‘em up, big boy.” Chug said, placing Torch between himself and the coffee table.

Torch lit his flame at full bast and it was a straight stream of blue fire that was longer than his old one, scaring the other puppets and himself and he immediately shut it off and hid behind Chug.

“I’m sorry, my wee bairn, but you need to light it up again so I can adjust it to a smaller flame.” Chug said, putting Torch in his lap this time. “Okay, light it up again.”

Torch looked up at him with uncertainty but did as he was told. Once the fire was lit, Chug adjusted the little knob on the side and the flame shrunk to a smaller blue flame. “There we go. That’s my wee bairn.” Chug said, petting Torch on the head and brought up the metal rod in front of the flame. It took a few seconds for it to burn through the metal and the metal rod was cut in half. Chug set the metal rods back on the anvil so he could remove the nozzle off Torch’s arm.

“Ok, you go sit down by the fire and keep busy, I’ve got to concentrate now, ok?” Chug picked up the rods and examined each one carefully before selecting one and then started to shave it with a steel scalpel.

Torch walked over to the open window next to the fire and looked out. He spotted a chocolate Labrador walking past and locked eyes with it. The Labrador came up and started sniffing him.

~ _Hello_ ~

“ _Hello._ ”

~ _Thou understands!~_ it barked and wagged its tail. ~ _Dost thou be kin-not-kin to The Generous One?_ ~

“ _Huh?_ ” Torch tilted his head.

~ _Art Thou--_ ~

~ _Oh, there he goes again._ ~ came a female voice.

~ _Aye, you can take an actor out of the theater but you cannae take the theater out of the actor._ ~ said an accented male voice.

Torch saw two more dogs approach. One was a brown haired crossbred retriever and the other was a small Scottish Terrier.

~ _What our friend is saying is have you been adopted?_ ~ asked the small one.

“’ _Dopted?_ ” Torch questioned.

~ _A-dopted, young one. You pronounce it with an ‘A’_.~ said the female.

“ _A-dopted? What’s a-dopted?_ ” Torch asked.

~ _Adopted means you’re now family with non-related siblings._ ~ said the Scot, wagging its tail.

“ _Non-related?_ ”

The three dogs looked at each other.

~ _How old are you, young one?_ ~ asked the female.

“ _Uh, . . . I don’t know._ ”

~ _Do you have any family?_ ~ the Scot asked.

“ _Um, one, two, three . . . Four, five brothers._ ” Torch answered, mentally calling out their names.

~ _Och! Four, five brothers to compete with! A lot of rough housing then, eh wee bairn?_ ~ the Scot said, wagging its short scraggly tail.

“ _No, no rough-housing. We’re puppets._ ”

~ _Puppets?_ ~ the Labrador asked.

“ _Carved from wood. Well, they were, I’m metal. I’m Torch._ ” Torch said lit a small flame.

~ _Torch? Seems more like a lighter._ ~ said the Labrador.

“I heard that Coco! Stand aside and Torch will give you a reason!” Chug said from his spot, still shaving the leg bone.

The dogs stood to one side and Torch lit his flame at full blast. The dogs stepped back and looked at Torch with new interest.

~ _Ooh, did he make you?_ ~ the Labrador asked, wagging his tail.

~ _Did you not just hear him? He has four brothers and therefore was made by another’s hand._ ~ the female clipped.

“Children, introduce yourselves. I taught you better than this.” Chug said and finished with the leg and approached the window. “Torch, the small Scottish terrier is Cmmdr. Scottie, The brown-haired one is Brenda and Coco is the last one. Doggies, this is Torch. Now away with you and continue with your patrolling. I’m busy.” Chug said and closed the window.

.

.


	26. New Leg at Last/Movie Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once the "movie scene" starts, I won't Italicize the puppets' speech.

Chug numbed Blade’s leg like he said he would by cutting the flow of the formula off and redirecting it and then removed the bandages, the clay and then the leg itself. Pinhead and Jester both fainted when the leg was removed, Tunneler was watching the whole process with interest and Torch was standing by, loving the idea of being able to help.

Six Shooter was off somewhere else keeping an eye on Torch. He was trying to come up with a plan on how to revert Torch back to the way he used to be when he was a newborn. Emotionless and unquestioning. He dared not try to make any move now because both brothers were watching him. The brother was at the piano playing away, and

Torch was right next to the kid so there was no way he could sneak him away.

He didn’t have a ready plan anyway, so he’d put up with it for now.

* * *

Chug placed the bone inside one half of the hollowed new wooden leg, placed the IV cord between the fibula and tibia, securing it in with sawdust paste-glue before connecting the line to a simple foot and reconnected the fluid’s flow. Then he filled the other hollowed leg with the sawdust to act as a shock absorbent whenever Blade walked around and not jostle the IV cord too much, then squeezed each piece together tightly while a spider wrapped some webs around it to secure it.

“ _Do I have to have the webs on me?_ ” Blade asked.

“Yes, spiders can weave a very tight net and if it gets wet it gets even more sticky, which I don’t mind. Unless I walk into it on early mornings.” Chug answered, mumbling the last part and shrugged. “This time you’re getting a proper cane for it. And you’ll have to go through some physical therapy, starting tomorrow, to help you get used to the new leg. I don’t know if it’ll throw off your whole balance or not. So, here, I picked an ebony cane for you.” Chug said and inserted the cane in Blade’s knife arm. “Jester can help you with the physical therapy. Nothing too strenuous. Five minutes walking only.”

Blade slouched in his chair, crossed his arms and pouted.

“I know you don’t like being confined to limited mobility, neither do we.” Chug said, glancing at Kokiri. “But if you want your knife back you’d best follow doctor’s orders. And I dare you to defy me.” Chug smirked, crossing his own arms.

Before Blade could respond they all heard a loud roar coming from the kitchen’s direction, it was soon followed by a crashing noise, more roaring and then a loud thud.

“Looks like we’ve got company.” Kokiri said and got up and left the room.

Chug placed all three computers together and started typing away on them. Each screen was soon divided into four screens, all having video footage of the hotel in various locations. Chug switched one screen to a tracking one and found what he was looking for.

“Aha, there you are.” he said quietly and typed away some more, putting an ear piece on. “Kegs, it’s heading down the hall on the east side via vents.”

Blade looked at the screen and saw several dots on it, but they were labeled so it was easy enough to follow. Kokiri was a blue dot, the intruder was a gold one. There were four red dots labeled T-Rex, four brown dots labeled with a spider symbol and four black dots with the scorpion symbol.

‘ _Oh, Jess isn’t going to like this._ ’ he thought.

Chug then ‘houdini’d’ a large TV screen out of his hat and placed it on the floor in front of the coffee table and the scorpions and spiders from the medical team quickly hooked it up to the middle computer he was working on. He clicked a button and the TV screen came on showing a live footage.

“There you go, entertainment for the day.” he said and typed away.

The puppets gathered around the TV and watched what was happening. The screen clicked to a darkened hallway and a silhouette became visible in the moonlight. The camera moved closer and it revealed a creature of 15 inches tall, wearing some kind of crown-looking helmet and had a raspy, screech-like roar.

“ _Sutekh’s totems!_ ” Blade gasped.

The demon totem walked cautiously around the corner, holding something in its hands, aiming it at the slightest sound.

“ _Is it . . . scared?_ ” Six asked.

The demon totem flinched and whirled around when there was a thrum-hissing noise, pointing the object in its hand at the camera.

“ _It is scared._ ” Tunneler said.

“We’ve got it on the run, bro.” Chug mumbled. “Capture and contain it. The boys seem to have an idea about it.”

The totem on the screen was soon attacked by a web, the web hitting the object and snatching it away, leaving it defenseless. Then a large scorpion dropped down from behind it, grabbed hold with its claws and stung it.

Jester screamed when the scorpion dropped and scurried under the coffee table.

The totem soon went limp and then was wrapped up in a spider web cocoon and then placed on the scorpion’s back.

“ _Ha-haa! Take that demon! Let’s see you get out of that one!_ ” Blade declared, feeling a sense of justice.

“ _That’s it? No big battle?_ ” Six asked, feeling cheated.

“Give me about an hour and I should have a good section composed into a movie.” Chug said, switching programs on his computers.

.

Five hours later . . . .

Everyone was sitting in the lounge room waiting for the show to start. Chug had wanted to send the puppets away for some privacy, not wanting to spoil the picture for them, but Torch and Jester were reluctant to leave and Blade wasn’t able to, so he sent them off to the crafts corner and put up a barrier to keep them there. Kokiri was called in to help keep and eye on them so that Chug could work uninterrupted.

Six Shooter and Blade felt highly insulted about that, stating that they were fully grown men and didn’t need a baby-sitter. Kokiri just lowered his glasses, gave them a look and raised an eyebrow. They immediately went quiet and reluctantly agreed to the arrangement. But they didn’t have to like it.

Chug turned off the lights and sat down, pulling Torch into his lap.

“Everybody comfortable?” he asked, getting nods, and clicked play.

.

Movie . . . .

_The movie started on a calm night, a third quarter moon shining down from a clear night sky. The view was of Bodega Bay and the ocean. The next second the sky showing off a very bright and twinkling star before the camera zoomed in on it, showing what it really was, a small space ship and it had crash-landed in the ocean. The camera followed it into the ocean, showing bubbles bubbling out of the ship before the ship lit up in a green glow and navigate through the water like a submarine._

_The camera switched to a different angle, having the probe appear from the left side of the TV and onto the screen before the camera rose to show Bodega Bay Inn._

_The next shot showed Chug running down the hall of the ship with the puppets behind him in the megalograptus._

_“We’re not exactly over Bodega Bay so we can’t just beam right on down. We’re nearly halfway across the world from it so we’re gonna have to do some flying when we transport.” Chug said, trotting down the hallway._

_“We’re not gonna fly in another car, are we?” Blade asked._

_“Just Kegs, we’ll be in my hat.” Chug said and entered the transporter room. Once there he placed all the puppets in his hat and told them not to touch anything until he gets there, stepped on the transport, grabbed a tight hold on his hat and beamed away in a flash of light._

_Then the camera switched to a calm, clear night sky before Chug suddenly flashed in, clutching his hat and free falling for a second then he pulled himself through inside the hat and the hat was left falling. The band on the black fedora and the brim of the hat lit up in a bright blue light and then flew off towards a city._

\------------------  
Blade shuddered at the memory of the flight in the hat.  
\------------------

_The next shot was of Kokiri running down a hall, also from the ship, but this time the camera paused on a directory sign showing where he was heading. Down to cargo Bay 4. When he arrived it showed the cargo hold was filled with cars. Sports cars, racing cars, inexpensive cars and old vintage cars._

\---------------------------  
“That’s a lot of cars.” Jester mumbled to Blade.  
\---------------------------

_Kokiri selected a dark blue car and drove down what looked to be a short runway. Very short. The car was in position and the engine went off, and then the car was being loaded into a large hollowed rock, the rock sealed up and was catapulted out of the bay._

_The next scene showed the rock exited out from under a large ship, run down its length up to the front, which showed that the ship resembled some kind of marine creature with its large flippers, and around the moon towards Earth._

\--------------------  
“. . . . What is that?” Blade asked.

“What is what?” Kokiri questioned.

“That ship. What was it?” Blade asked.

“My ship.” Kokiri answered.

“Of course, but from what creature?” Blade hissed.

“Liopleuridon. Now shoosh, it’s not over.” Kokiri hissed back.

“Any specifics?” Blade asked quietly, crossing his arms in a pout.

“Marine Paleontology.” Kokiri answered back and nudged his right leg to shoosh.

Blade huffed and continued to watch the film.  
\----------------------------

_The puppets finally held interest in the film when the camera went to the beach down below the hotel, showing the small space ship had tethered itself to a rock offshore and three creatures were thrown onto the beach by the waves, each one having some large item on their backs._

_They screeched at the ocean, one swiping at it as if attacking it with its little clawed hands, and looked up the cliff where the hotel sat._

_The puppets stiffened at the resemblance these space creatures had with the demon totems. Not just their looks, but their sounds as well._

_The creatures unloaded the items from their backs, the sounds of rifles being loaded coming from each of them._

_One creature growled at the other two and they headed up the trail that lead to the hotel._

_The next scene was a group of dogs walking around near the kitchen area of the hotel, sniffing the ground. Their heads went up when another canine appeared, this one was quite unusual. It was built like a fox, had fox markings, and overall looked just like a fox. But it was as tall as the other dogs, the tail was quite long and fluffy-licious, the end of the tail split in three points and it had blue fur and green eyes. Eyes that were cat-like._

\-----------  
Blade jaw dropped and looked at the brother with the glasses.

Kokiri looked back, raising an eyebrow and then put a finger on his lips and pointed at the TV.  
\------------------

_The dogs stood at attention when the fox appeared, all whimpering at it._ (Six was glad for the subtitles added.)

_“No signs of intruders here, Captain.” said one of the dogs._

_“That’s because they’ve just arrived and are still on the trail.” said the fox, oddly enough it sounded just like the brother. “There are three of them, all armed. You and you,” it said, point at the first one and the third dog with its tail. “head over to the overgrowth and ambush them but do not eat them, subdue and confine. You, take two other scouts and head down to the beach and destroy their ship.” said the fox and took off._

_The dogs separated and the next shot showed the overgrowth and the dogs running through, trotted around a bit before crouching low and out of sight._

_The creatures from the space ship finally reached the top of the trail and stopped to rest a bit. One groaned loudly and dropped sprawled on the ground. That’s when things got interesting. They heard the dogs growling and two seconds later were attacked. Two of the creatures were already ensnared in the dogs teeth, their weapons crushed, and they ran back to the hotel towards the kitchen area._

_The one that was lying on the ground peeked out from a hidden spot, shaking, grabbed its gun and followed the dogs._

.

.


	27. Movie Continued

_The dogs had entered the kitchen through a door flap, trotted over to an open pantry door and stood in the middle of it and descended down an elevator. The descent showed a whole hidden sci-fi styled section of the hotel which astounded the puppets._

\---------------  
“We’ve lived here for sixty years and we’ve never come across anything like that.” Blade said.

“Of course not, the security system reads on body heat, body weight and visual recognition.” Chug said.  
\---------------------

_The dogs carried the two creatures over to what looked liked a dumpster and dropped them. The creatures then traveled through some tubes, separated and placed into clear canisters and instantly frozen. The canisters were picked up by a large mechanical arm and placed on a shelf next to other canisters with frozen contents. The canisters rotated so that the creatures faced the camera. The camera then moved back to reveal that all the canisters held the same creature and there were twenty long shelves of it._

\------------  
“Wha-?!” came Jester.

“No way!” claimed Tunneler

“Is this for real?” Six Shooter asked.

“Yes, it’s for real. These are just the outer scouts.” Kokiri said.  
\---------------

_The scene cut to the third creature, peeking around a corner of the kitchen before cautiously walking ahead. The camera panned over its head then from behind where something large scurried past across the camera, catching its attention and aiming its gun in its direction._

The puppets were focused now.

_The camera cut close to the creature from behind. The creature started walking backwards slowly and cautiously. Slowly turning around and began to crouch in on itself. A sure sign it was scared._

_The camera switched to its feet, watching it step on some white cotton. Sticky white cotton. It squawked in surprise, lifted its foot and tried to shake it off, causing waves of the fabric._

_The camera followed one small barely noticeable wave down behind the shelves, along a wall, through a rat hole, down a dark tunnel and finally into a large, dark chamber. The wave led to a large trampoline web, causing it to wobble ever so slightly. The chamber was dark but there was a large darker spot in a corner and the web’s vibration reached it._

_The dark shadow was a large, hairy tarantula that was sleeping. The vibration woke it, its eyes snapping open_ (causing Jester to yelp) _, and leave its chamber._

_The creature finally got its foot free of the web and continued through the kitchen at a more confident, if a little annoyed, pace. It was reaching the double doors that led to the dining room of the hotel when another incident happened. It stepped on a hidden switch and then there was a deafening roar._ (Jester jumped and tried to hide behind Blade)

_The creature looked to its left and there stood the source of the roaring. A large red T-Rex that was slowly moving its head in a circular motion, eyes bright red and was roaring once more._

_The creature freaked and ran back down the kitchen away from the doors. But it didn’t get very far. Another T-Rex emerged from behind a shelf that held stainless steel mixing bowls and roared at the creature. Its eyes also bright red._

_The creature turned away from that one and ran back to the double doors only to be blocked by a huge hairy tarantula rearing up and hissing, its fangs dripping with green venom._

_The creature screamed and ran off to its left, trying to get away._

_The spider followed after it at a fast scurry, hissing and nearly caught up to it when the creature ran under a tall metal shelf that held some frying pans and other cook ware and the spider crashed into it, jostling the pans, and stuffed itself under it. The shelf started to tip over ever so slightly when the spider got stuck, just out of reach of the creature._   
_The creature had backed up to a narrow alleyway, too narrow for it to get through and tried to point its gun at the spider. The spider managed to squeeze in some more, but the result was tipping the shelf over completely, causing a loud crash. It also gave the creature a chance to shoot the spider in the face which it did and the spider was incinerated._

\--------------------  
“Goliath!” cried Chug.  
\--------------------

_The creature wasn’t safe though. There was still the other T-Rex, which rose its head above a fallen square box and roared. The creature screeched in fright and fired, but the Rex was unbothered and charged forward. The creature fired again and again before realizing that the gun was having no effects of the Rex whatsoever and ran off. Just in time as the Rex crashed head on into the bare wall and falling on its side, giving the creature some time to escape through a vent in the wall._

_The T-Rex rolled back on its feet, stood up and went back to its hiding place._

_The creature ran through the vents as fast as it could, only slowing down when it knew it was at a safe distance. It looked back to see if anything else was following it. It stopped to catch its breath, lowering the gun and leaning against the wall. Then continued ahead, reaching a broken vent. But it was cautious. It wasn’t going to take anymore chances of anything sneaking up on it and threw its gun out in the open._

_The coast was clear and it stepped as quietly as it could, picked up its gun and continued walking. It pressed its back against the wall as it reached a corner and peeked around, aiming its gun. . . . Nothing. It cautiously walked around the corner, aiming its gun at the slightest sound. When a large shadow crossed the camera again, it whirled around and aimed at the camera. There was the sound of thrummed hissing and then the gun was snatched away by a string of webs and then a large black scorpion dropped down behind it, pinned it down with its pincers and stung it._

_The camera switched to a night stand in the middle of the hallway where its gun was hanging underneath, still being wrapped by four large hairy legs. The demon went limp from the poison coursing through its veins and the scorpion lifted it up to the large spider with its tail. The spider quickly started wrapping the creature before attaching a thick web to it, gently lowering it onto the scorpion's back and descended itself and they walked away with their catch down a vent._

.

“That’s it. Movie’s over. Off to bed with you lot, now.” Chug said, gathering Torch in his arms and stood up. As soon as he did, he was glomped on by Jester, saying he didn’t want to be left alone knowing there were spiders and scorpions on the loose.

“Alright, you can come too. But only if you behave yourself, savvy?” Chug said and yawned a good night to his brother and left the room.

.

.


	28. Magic Lesson/Hanging with Blade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> bold letters = demonic Kokiri  
> bold Italic = 'God' Kokiri

Kokiri walked over to the piano and began playing a light tune. “So, who’s going exploring first?” he asked.

The hands of Six Shooter and Tunneler went up in the air.

“Sound enough. But can your drill work now, Tunneler?” Kokiri asked.

Tunneler started his drill to show that it could and then he and Six hopped off the couch and left the room.

“Sound enough. Maybe you should go with them Pinhead. Get to know the extra grounds with them. And keep and eye on Six.” Kokiri said and Pinhead left the couch to catch up with his brothers.

Blade looked at the door from which the three left, also wanting to re-familiarize himself with the hotel. But his bad leg wouldn’t even allow him to stand and the kid had said he wasn’t suppose to put weight on it just yet so he was left alone in the room with the brother.

“As for you, Mr. Blade, I like to sort through your memories for a spell.” Kokiri said, stopping his playing and beckoned Blade over.

Blade found himself lifted off the couch and floated over to the piano.

“Chug said you shouldn’t put weight on your new leg until tomorrow and I don’t want to get up. So . . . “ Kokiri smiled his smirking smile. “Now, I’ll only sort through your memories if you’ll let me. I just want to know what happened to you and Jester on that cliff bank.” Kokiri said.

“ _What’s there to know? We were attacked. Plain and simple._ ” Blade said.

“Yes, that much is obvious. But this is for Jester’s sake. He wasn’t so afraid of scorpions and spiders before that and he wasn’t so dependent on you for protection. He fared well before you were even an epiphany for creation.” Kokiri said.

“ _So? It’s my job as leader to look after them._ ” Blade said.

“Aye, but then there’s something else that happened on that day. Something you won’t tell Jester about. Something had happened to you as well.” Kokiri said.

Blade stiffened. “ _I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened._ ”

“Oh yes it did. And you’ve been having nightmares about it.” Kokiri said, removing his glasses and looking Blade straight in the eyes, his pupils in sharp slits. “So, what happened?”

Blade found it impossible to look away from such piercing eyes and un-abidingly brought the memory forth.

Kokiri caught snippets of Blade running after Jester, comforting him, protecting him, Jester screaming and then . . . .

Blade tore his eyes away from Kokiri and squashed the memory back down into the darkest part of his mind.

Kokiri allowed the space and resumed his playing. “I can wait until you’re ready to talk.” he said. “But I would like a closer look at the spiders and scorpions.” he added after a few seconds of quiet.

Blade looked back and noticed that the green eyes seem to have a faint glow to them.

“Before my eyes absorb any more light from the fire.” Kokiri smiled.

“ _Your eyes absorb light?_ ” Blade asked.

“Yeah, helps big time in the dark when me and Chugs are trapped in the dark. That and sonar pulses.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Sonar pulses? You’re a fox, you don’t do sonar._ ” Blade said.

“Magic-wise, of course. Would you like to see how it works?” Kokiri asked, stopping his playing.

“ _You can give magic?_ ” Blade asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I’m the Guardian of Magic. I can give and take.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Prove it._ ” Blade demanded and held his arms wide open.

“Alrighty, but first we’re gonna need a crowded place.” Kokiri said and picked him up and left the room via window and flew to the sky.

“ _Just what kind of magic do you have?_ ” Blade asked.

“Elemental Powers, flight, shape-shifting, and the usual common kind.” Kokiri answered, stopping his flight and looked at the ground.

“ _What’s the usual common kind?_ ” Blade asked.

“Creating and giving life, of course.” Kokiri answered and flew towards a green pasture, keeping a hold on Blade’s hat.

“ _Creating life is common magic?_ ” Blade asked, once they landed.

“Yeah, just about anyone can do it. It’s a primal technique.” Kokiri said and put his glasses back on.

“ _Primal technique? (Looks up) Why do you wear sunglasses at night?_ ” Blade asked.

“Because my eyes will give me away. Fire light can make them glow pretty bright.” Kokiri answered and then shooshed him and crouched down to the ground. “Now, before I give you a sample, can you meditate?” he asked.

“ _What kind of question is that? Anyone can meditate._ ” Blade answered loudly, feeling a bit smug about not being able to actually talk.

“It’s different with magic. You need a focused and disciplined mind.”

“ _Do I have to go ‘o-o-ohm’_?” Blade chuckled.

“No, it’s not necessary.” Kokiri chuckled. “People just do that to annoy their customers. Now, here’s what you could do instead of proper meditation. Picture yourself in a black void. You may not have blinking eyes, but I assume you can close off your sight.” Kokiri said.

“ _Yeah, I can do that._ ” Blade said and pictured the black void with ease.

“Okay, now imagine a pale blue ball of fire, like a star. That’s going to be your core for now.” he heard the brother say and pictured the image.

“Can you see it?” Kokiri asked.

“ _Yes, it’s very bright._ ” Blade said.

“Good, now give it a small tap and imagine it rippling outward like a ripple on water.” Kokiri said.

Blade did just that and right away the ripple hit many little objects all around him and gasped.

“Do it again.” Kokiri said.

Blade tapped the ball and it rippled all around him again, hitting the many little objects. Then one of the little objects caused its own ripple and it soared across the black field as a little blue light.

“Now, place your hands on the ball and imagine a constant ripple.”

Blade imagined himself having hands and did as asked. Now he could see what the little blue lights in his vision were. They were crickets.

“Tell me what you see.” Kokiri said.

“ _We’re in a field of crickets._ ” Blade said.

“Can you feel them?”

“ _No._ ”

“The blue ball is inside you, let it fill your sense of touch and let that sense spread throughout your whole being.”

Blade tried, but he hadn’t been able to physically touch anything for so long he had forgotten.

“Feel the breeze on your face.” Kokiri whispered.

Blade did and spread that feeling to the blue ripple and nearly lost focus from the sensation. He could feel the ground beneath his feet, Kokiri’s hands around his waist holding him up, the grass gently swaying in the breeze, the crickets on each blade of grass, the formula coursing through his body. He could feel his new leg mending itself, fusing together, the seams of the carved leg was fusing to make the leg whole.

“Do you feel it?”

“ _Yes._ ”

“Now, add your hearing.”

“ _I’m afraid to._ ”

“Don’t be. It’s quite relaxing.”

“ _I can feel my leg mending itself. The wood is fusing together. How is that possible?_ ” Blade asked opening his eyes and looking up at Kokiri.

“Oh, you can blame that on me. Look.” Kokiri let Blade float in the air, brought his arms up, rolled up his sleeves and made a deep gash in his left arm with a clawed finger. The cut spread open and blood began to rush down but it didn’t drip.

Blade watched as the blood ran back up the arm, sealing the wound along the way. “ _How the hell did you do that?_ ” he asked.

“Blood runs through the veins in a liquid state, like water in a river.” Kokiri answered.

“ _And you’ve mastered the elements. You can control water._ ” Blade said.

“Yeah,” Kokiri sighed and lied down on his back, placing a leg over a knee and let Blade sit on it, allowing his foot for Blade to lean back on.

“ _What else can you do?_ ” Blade asked.

“An easier question would be what I can’t do.” Kokiri said.

“ _Alright, what can’t you do?_ ” Blade asked.

“Harm innocent souls and my brother.” Kokiri answered.

“ _That’s it?_ ” Blade asked. “ _So, you can . . .you know?_ ” he asked.

“What?”

“ _Have intimacy with another person?_ ” Blade asked.

“Yes, but I choose not to.” Kokiri said.

“ _Why? No right person who can win you over?_ ” Blade smirked.

“My brother is my prime concern. My mate is gonna have to make him theirs as well to get my vote of confidence.” Kokiri said.

“ _I suppose I can see that._ ” Blade mumbled and sighed, and then remembered an earlier question. “ _That common magic you were talking about. Does it have anything to do with sex?_ ” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s primal magic.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Having sex is considered magic?_ ” Blade snorted.

“Yeah, basic magic. Giving life is a step above that.” Kokiri said and couldn’t help but smile when Blade started laughing.

Blade calmed down after five minutes and they both just enjoyed the night air in silence for a moment, listening to the crickets.

“ _So, can you freeze to death?_ ” Blade asked.

“Nope.”

“ _Can you burn to death?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Can you be poisoned to death?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Hit by a car?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Stampede?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Bullets?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _. . . . Starvation?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Dehydration?_ ”

“Nope.”

“ _Can you at least be wounded?_ ” Blade asked in exasperation. Kokiri was starting to sounded unbelievable.

“Yeah, but it depends on which level.”

“ _Levels?_ ”

“The Three Levels.”

“ _Oh, ok, uh, the physical level._ ”

“Physical wounds only last a few seconds.”

“ _Mental wounds?_ ”

“God, those are horrible. A few minutes to an hour.”

“ _Emotional level?_ ”

“Oh, those are the worst and highest crime. I’m still reeling from them.”

“ _Oh? What happened?_ ”

“They all stem from a broken heart. Do you really want to hear about that?”

“ _Of course it does. I think all emotional pain stems from a broken heart. That’s why it would be the highest crime to commit, don’t you think?_ ”

“Yeah, but no one really wants to talk about it and reliving it, now, do they?”

“ _Ah, but how else are you going to mend?_ ”

“Fair point. But if you want details, you’ll have to talk to my brother.”

“ _Pfft, cheap. Ok, what kind of mentality do you find painful?_ ”

“Good god, where to start?” Kokiri groaned and rubbed his face. “Idiocy! Do you have any idea of how many stupid people are out there?”

“ _Uh, no._ ”

“Stupidity is the next highest crime ever. There was one person who asked if we could land on the sun during winter when temperatures were 30 degrees lower than summer.”

Blade went silent and stayed silent for a good ten minutes. He rubbed his head, contemplated, and tried to say something but could say nothing. “ _. . . What?!_ ”

“Yeah, a friend of Chugs had a customer asking if there was any gluten in their water and there’s a lady somewhere claiming to sell chemical free fruits and vegetables, another one asked if dogs have brains, saying it was a “serious” question. One person claimed that dinosaurs weren’t real, just a figment of our imagination.”

“ _Wha-a-at?! There are fossils! And fruits and vegetables are NOT chemical free!_ ”

“I know! But they won’t change their minds. One other person believes that nothing natural can harm you, like the sun.

“ _Sunburn, dehydration, hyperthermia, HELLO!_ ”

“Water.”

“ _Drowning!_ ”

“Fire.”

“ _Oh my god._ ”

“Yeah, mentality hurts.”

Blade was at a loss for words. He was once a doctor and he had some knowledge about chemicals in produce, but everything else was common knowledge. These things were taught in schools for crying out loud. The sun was a giant burning ball of fire, there was no way to land on it!! “Can we just go home? I need to sleep away this newfound knowledge and forget about it in the morning.” he groaned.

“You think that’s bad, try to remain professional when a customer asks you how to work a toaster.” Kokiri mumbled and flew back to Bodega Bay with Blade in his hands.

“ _And there goes my sanity._ ” 

.

.


	29. Day's Happening 2: At Bodega Bay

The sun was beginning to rise when Chug started to wake. He felt toasty warm and wondered when Kokiri had crawled in with him. He didn’t remember him coming up to bed. But he found his answer when his chin was poked by something in sharp. Torch had crawled under the covers with him. Soft jingling bells had alerted him to Jester’s presence, also under the covers. Jester had his back to Torch while Torch was cuddled up to him as close as possible.

Chug smiled softly down at them and carefully crawled out of bed to let them sleep more, giving Torch the doll he had from the ship and putting the covers back over them, making sure each one was tucked in nice and cozy then left the room.

He found Kokiri resting on the couch with Blade snoozing away on his chest. Pinhead and Tunneler were by the dying fire and Six Shooter was poking it with a stick he found. After checking on them he headed over to the kitchen to make some breakfast for himself and Kokiri. Torch had told him that the puppets couldn’t eat like normal so he didn’t have to make a large meal. Then again, Kokiri hadn’t eaten in four days. . . .

.

Kokiri stretched his limbs as far as they could, hearing a bone crack in his spine before relaxing. His sensitive ears could hear sizzling emanating from the kitchen and his nose told him it was bacon. Bacon, potatoes, eggs, sausages, coffee, pancakes and waffles. His stomach growled at the scent, waking Blade.

“ _What the hell was that?_ ” he asked sleepily.

“My stomach. I haven’t eaten a full meal in four days.” Kokiri said, lifting Blade off his chest and onto the coffee table and sat up and headed to the kitchen.

“ _So, how did you and fox-boy enjoy your night?_ ” Six snickered.

“ _Shut up, Six. I just learned that he’s the Guardian of Magic and that he can give magic as well as take it._ ” Blade said.

“ _Say what?_ ” Six mumbled in shock.

“ _Yeah, and his eyes absorb light. He cannot be physically harmed for more than a few seconds._ ” Blade said and told his three brothers about last night’s events.

.

Meanwhile with Torch and Jester. . . . 

Jester was woken from his slumber when something heavy rolled onto him. “ _Torch! Torch, get up!_ ” he gasped. “ _Torch!_ ”

Torch sat up when the jingle bells wouldn’t stop ringing and yawned.

“ _Torch! You’re crushing me!_ ” Jester wheezed and started kicking his feet.

Torch rolled off Jester who took a deep breath and rolled onto his back. “ _Thank you._ ” Jester panted.

“ _Jester! What are you doing here?_ ” Torch asked, noticed the teddy-master in his arm and quickly hid behind his back.

“ _The hotel is filled with spiders and scorpions! I don’t want to be out there by myself! Not when Blade’s injured and can’t walk!_ ” Jester answered. “ _. . . What are you holding behind your back?_ ”

“ _Nothing._ ” Torch quickly said and scooted back into the covers.

Jester looked on and decided to leave it. Six teased him enough, he didn’t need to make Torch feel like a hunted animal. “ _Okay, shall we head on down to the lounge room? I’m suppose to help Blade with his physical therapy._ ” Jester said and jumped off the bed.

Torch looked on to see if Jester would walk forth to catch him in his view and see what he was hiding, but Jester waited. So he tucked ‘Teddy-Master’ under the pillow and slid off the bed to walk down to the lounge room with him.

Jester was trying to think up a subject to talk about on the way down. He never really spent much time with Torch due to his flamethrower, but with the Kid around and giving Torch the attention he never received, Torch was shown to have a childish side. Which proved that he was a child in the first place and probably had the mentality of a child, so he wasn’t sure of what would be appropriate for Torch to talk about.

“ _Watch your step._ ” came Torch.

“ _What?_ ” Jester slipped down the first step before Torch grabbed his hat and prevented the rest of the fall.

“ _Stay focused._ ” Torch said and hopped down the stairs three at a time.

Jester looked on, rubbing his bum as he watched Torch hop all the way down the stairs with both feet. ‘ _Aw, he’s just a baby, really._ ’ he thought and carefully walked down the stairs.

Torch hopped down the last four steps and sat down to wait for Jester.

“ _Is it me or are the stairs more shiny than before-ORE-E-E!!_ ” Jester asked, yelping the last bit as he slipped down the last ten steps and then slid past Torch.

“ _Um, I think they’ve been recently polished._ ” Torch said, running over to Jester and helped him up.

“ _That was fun. Let’s go again!_ ” Jester said and ran to the stairs.

“ _Jester, maybe just from the last two steps and you can see how far you can slide across the hall._ ” Torch said and watched as Jester took his advice and slide right past him almost all the way to the wall this time.

“ _Torch, you’ve gotta try this!_ ” Jester cackled as he slid to a halt.

Torch looked at the stairs, then at Jester who was laughing, then skidded his foot across the floor. They didn’t slide on the new slippery floor the way Jester did with his entire outfit. “ _Um, I don’t think I’m built for it._ ” Torch said walking over to Jester and helped him up again. “ _Come on, Blade’s probably restless from not being able to move on his own for the last three days._ ” he said.

“ _Yeah, you’re probably right._ ” Jester said, dusting himself.

.

Blade was kicking his feet, testing the new leg’s mobility before he put his weight on it. So far he had been able to move his foot up and down at the ankle, then slowly rotated it a few times before working his knee joint, keeping his ankle straight. Then he worked both the knee and ankle joints together to see if they worked properly. He was waiting for Jester to come down so he could start his therapy because Jester was assigned to help him with it. He didn’t want the kid on his case should he ever disobey his orders.

Although there was the magic the brother had lent to him last night. Maybe with the magic’s help he’d be properly healed and walking tomorrow. He really wanted to test this theory out but Jester was taking forever!

He laid down on the floor by the fire when he heard laughter coming from the main hall entrance and knew that it was Jester having his fun for the day. If Jester woke up in a good mood the day was bound to go smoothly with little complaint from Six’s constant whining about Jester’s arachnophobia.

He propped himself up on his elbows to see Torch and Jester walking in, Jester was dusting his behind with his mischievous smirk on his face and his little playful giggle.

“ _And what’s put you in such a playful mood, Little One?_ ” Blade asked, propelling himself up to sit properly.

“ _The floor’s been waxed and I slipped down the stairs, past Torch and did it again._ ” Jester answered and helped Blade up to his feet. “ _So, how does this physical therapy work?_ ” he asked.

“ _Just make sure I don’t cause myself anymore damage while I practice walking with the cane. Do you have a timer with you?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Boss gave it to me last night._ ” Torch said and handed a stopwatch over to Jester. “ _But I don’t know how to work it._ ”

“ _Boss?_ ” Blade asked, wishing he could quirk an eyebrow.

“ _He doesn’t like it when I call him . . ._ ” Torch looked around to make sure his master wasn’t within hearing range. “ _master._ ” he whispered and went over to the coffee table to keep out of the way. “ _He said five minutes walking and no longer._ ” he added.

“ _Okay, shall we get going? You’re probably going crazy being restless._ ” Jester said and started the timer.

Blade took a deep breath, put the ebony cane forward and then took his first step on his wounded leg. Then a step with his right leg, then the cane, the wounded leg, the right leg, the cane, the wound, the right. He walked in this pattern til he reached Torch and the coffee table, panting from the hard work.

“ _You still have three minutes to go._ ” Jester said.

Blade groaned and turned around, moving the right leg first, then the cane, then the wounded leg until he was fully turned and walked back to the fireplace. The walk didn’t take as long but it wore him out and he dropped when Jester called out the five minutes. He prayed that he still had the magic inside him and he tried to focus on it to sense his leg’s progress.

“ _Blade? Blade are you feeling OK?_ ” Jester asked, running over when he saw Blade drop to the floor.

“ _M’fine, jus’ tired._ ” Blade said quietly. “ _I haven’t been able to walk in three days and this is a bit overwhelming. Give me ten minutes and we’ll try again._ ”

“ _But Boss said only five minutes of walking._ ” Torch said.

“Five minutes of walking, ten minutes of rest.” Chug said, entering the lounge room. “B’s got it right, my wee bairn, you don’t have to worry about it. He’s in good hands, now how about you and me work on our personal project? Do you remember what it was?” Chug asked.

“ _Um, . . ._ ” Torch rubbed the back of his head before shaking it.

“Well, come along and I’ll remind you.” Chug smiled and picked him up and left the room.

Jester looked over at Blade, wondering if he had any clue about this personal project. Blade didn’t and he stood up to continue with his therapy.

“ _So how does that new leg feel?_ ” Jester asked, keeping an eye on his posture. The new cane helped to keep his back straight unlike his knife, and it went very well with his black ensemble.

“ _At the moment, it feels like it’s on fire from all the pain._ ” Blade gritted and sat down at the coffee table to catch his breath. “ _Can you check it to see if there’s anything wrong?_ ” he asked, taking deep breaths.

Jester rolled up the pants leg and checked around to see if there was any infections, but found a surprise when the leg appeared to be solid wood. The seam from where the leg was cut in half to insert the titanium steel bones was gone. At first he thought it was because the glue that was holding it together made it nearly impossible to see the sawed line, but there were no faults anywhere.

“ _Uh, I don’t see anything. Maybe you need an X-ray scan._ ” Jester said.

“ _Can you go find the kid, my leg is really killing me._ ” Blade hissed back the pain.

Jester dropped the stopwatch and left the room to find the kid, or at least the brother. He was too worried about Blade to think about the spiders and scorpions roaming around the hotel to be afraid of them.

Blade calmed his breathing and tried to focus on the pale blue ball that the brother had given him. It was temporary magic but he hoped that it was still there. He imagined the black void and then the blue ball and mentally sighed in relief when he found it still glowing and rotating inside him. He reached out to it with his sense of touch like he was taught and focused on his leg.

The leg came up and he gasped at its progress. The sawdust paste was liquefying itself to resemble muscle, ligaments, tissue and some body fat, surrounding the IV cord and securing it closer to the metal bones. The metal in his foot started to mutate from the simple foot to the complicated bones of the real thing: the tarsal bones, the metatarsal bones and the phalanges. 

He started to develop individual toes and the sawdust started to fill in the gaps between the bones to act as cartilage, ligaments and all the other stuff that goes in a foot.

He opened his eyes and lied back down. Well, that explained the pain. Maybe he should talk to the brother instead of the kid.

.

.


	30. Jester Faces His Fears

Jester searched all around the upper floor looking for the kid. Blade was downstairs in pain and needed some immediate medical attention, but he had searched ten rooms and none of them had the kid or Torch in it. When Blade was all healed he promised to learn himself some first-aid and maybe some engineering to help Blade or his other brothers in the future.

He turned a corner and nearly ran back back the other way when he caught sight of a huge black scorpion wrestling with an equally huge hairy brown spider. But his quick eyes caught the fact that they weren’t wrestling. The black scorpion was trying to help the spider from an entrapment it had managed to trap itself in.

He eased his way back around the corner to stay out of their sight and watched as the scorpion tried using its pincers and tail to open the trap. It moved to try another angle and Jester saw that the trap had ensnared the spider around its abdomen. Half of its body was trapped and it was left practically defenseless with just its thorax and four legs available.

He was shaking from their sheer size but he didn’t like to see any creature in pain, unless it was a greedy or abusive human. Tenderizing the cowboy’s meat with a meat tenderizer fourteen years ago brought the mischievous grin to his face. The spider hissing in pain brought him back and helped resolve his fear to help the poor thing so he coughed to get their attention.

The scorpion turned around and spotted him and was immediately on guard, stepping in front of the spider and posing for battle.

“ _Um, hello there,_ ” Jester began nervously. “ _Uh, can you . . . can you understand me?_ ” he asked, tugging at his collar.

The scorpion didn’t budge for a moment, keeping its stinger at the ready.

“ _Uh, I uh, (ahem) do you need any help with that?_ ”

~ _Who are you?_ ~ the scorpion growled, snapping its pincers.

“ _I-I’m Jester._ ” Jester gulped, his knees shaking. “ _I’m looking for . . . for um, t-the kid?_ ” he rasped.

~ _What do you want with him?_ ~ the scorpion asked.

“ _M-my brother’s in pain a-and is a patient of his._ ”

~ _What is wrong with your brother?_ ~

“ _H-He’s got a broken leg. I-I mean, a brand new leg and is going through therapy._ ”

~ _Pain is inevitable during recovery._ ~ the scorpion hissed.

“ _Y-Yeah, I know that. But . . ._ ” by now Jester was ready to cry. “ _Could you please point me in the kid’s direction?_ ”

~ _You said you could help._ ~

“ _I can, and I will, but I’d like you to help me in return._ ” Jester whimpered.

The scorpion narrowed its electronic blue eyes at him and gave off a low thrumming hiss. ~ _Are you afraid?_ ~

“ _Y-Yes, v-very afraid._ ” Jester whispered, he was shaking violently now and started to back away.

~ _Why?_ ~

“ _I-I was attacked by two scorpions a-and three tarantulas here once._ ”

~ _Lies! We do not attack without cause!_ ~ the scorpion yelled and took a step forward.

Jester whimpered and closed in on himself, his shaking getting even more violent. “ _But their eyes weren’t blue likes yours or your brothers! They were red!_ ” he cried in a high pitch voice.

~ _Red eyes?_ ~ The scorpion asked, lowering its stinger.

“ _Y-y-yes, a-a-and pulsated with evil._ ” 

~ _The Guardian has told us of our fallen brothers and sisters in the overgrowth by the cliff bank, along with another creature that stank of human._ ~

“ _S-Sutekh’s totems._ ”

~ _Our master gives us blue eyes as favor to the brother. Red eyes shows possession from another who wishes to do harm on innocents._ ~

“ _Master?_ ” Jester asked softly.

~ _The Kid. Though he doesn’t like it when we refer to him as such._ ~

“ _That’s what Torch said._ ” Jester smiled, feeling a little calmed.

~ _Who is this Torch you speak of?~_ the scorpion asked, after being tapped by the spider.

“ _Torch is my brother. The last one created by my Father._ ” Jester answered.

~ _Created by your father?_ ~

“ _A-Andre Toulon. Though, father was dead when he made him._ ”

~ _How can the dead create life?_ ~

Jester looked up at the scorpion. “ _We . . . He made this formula that can bring us to life and we used it to bring him back because we missed him._ ”

~ _A potion cannot bring back the dead._ ~

“ _We figured that when he wanted immortality._ ”

~ _The world is already full of living humans, why fill it with dead ones brought back to life as well?_ ~

“ _Hey, he was my father and he loved us! We wanted our kind, caring master back because the one who found us abused us when he got what wanted!_ ”

~ _Another human garnering for immortality from your magic potion?_ ~

“ _Well, . . . yeah, but we’ve been careful about choosing masters after Gallagher and Dead Toulon afterwards, and it paid off. We had a new master named Rick Myers._ ”

~ _The bio-mechanic?_ ~ the scorpion asked.

“ _Y . . . Yeah, how’d you guess?_ ”

~ _We’ve lived here for over a hundred years. We know what has been happening and who has passed these halls._ ~

“ _You do? Well then you must have seen father before he . . . before he killed himself._ ” Jester said the last part quietly.

~ _Is that who it was? He was very interesting. We watched him doing a paint job on one of his creations and muttered ‘alive, come alive’ once._ ~

Jester was stunned. “ _That . . . That was me. Father was fixing me up before hiding us away in a secret panel and killing himself before the Nazis got a hold of him._ ” 

~ _Well now, it is a small world after all._ ~ the scorpion chuckled and finally relaxed, raising its stinger and allowed Jester to help. In return, the spider led him to Chug who was in the attic room that used to be Rick’s room, zapping away on something.

“ _Kid! Kid!_ ” Jester yelled, jumping up and down trying to get Chug’s attention. Luckily Torch noticed him and stopped Chug from what he was doing and pointed him out.

“Jester, what are you doing here?” he asked, lifting the little puppet up and into his lap.

“ _Blade needs help. He said his leg is hurting too much to continue the therapy._ ” Jester answered in a worried tone.

“Pain is inev--” Chug began, but was interrupted by Jester.

“ _It’s inevitable, I know, but there’s something else._ ” Jester said and told him about the seamless leg he found.

“Seamless? Are you sure it isn’t the glue?” Chug questioned.

“ _Yes, I’m sure. I know what to look for._ ” Jester said.

“Hmm, that does sound a bit peculiar.” Chug mumbled and looked over at the scorpion and tarantula that had escorted Jester, addressing the tarantula first. “Maybelle, go find Kegs and tell him about Jester’s findings. I’ll meet him there. Polaris, you stay here and make sure nobody sees these.” he said, gathering some blueprints together into a pile and set the scorpion on it.

It saluted with its tail and sat down.

“Now, let’s go see what’s wrong with your brother.” Chug said.

.

.


	31. Trouble With The New Leg/Surprise

Kokiri Yusaga was down on the beach in his fox form, staring at the ocean when his magic senses received a ping of pain. Someone was calling out for help and assistance. The ping felt familiar and very young in use so he could only guess that Blade was in pain and headed back to the hotel at a trot.

He met a large, 12 inch long hairy tarantula at the top of the trail, telling him about what the little jester puppet had found on scary-man’s leg and that his brother would meet him in the lounge room.

He transformed back in his human state when he reached the lounge room’s window and entered.

“So what’s this I hear about Blade’s leg mending?” he asked.

“ _Hey, you knew it was mending last night! This one is different!_ ” Blade snapped, his pain becoming unbearable and making him snappy.

“I’ve already scanned him and the result was rather bizarre.” Chug said and showed the imaging results to his brother.

Kokiri looked at the image carefully, but didn’t see anything wrong. “So?”

“’So?’ I didn’t give him toes, that’s what’s ‘so’.” Chug said and clicked up the finer imaging pictures and Kokiri raised his eyebrows this time.

“Muscles, ligaments and body fat?” Kokiri questioned.

“He’s got all the tarsal, metatarsal and phalanges bones in his toes, and it’s still developing all the little bits and ligaments, reshaping the metal, but there’s little extra globs of it in the foot, giving him what could be called a tumor, or no, what was it, bunions? Corns? Whatever. Point is, these little bumps are rubbing against the bones like those scarred tissues on that allosaurus which will cause inflammation and warp the wooden foot as it swelled, leaving permanent damage. They need to be removed now before the globs collect any more.” Chug said.

“Well, I can get them if he can hold perfectly still.” Kokiri said, looking down at Blade who was taking deep calming breaths.

“Ah-ah-ah, before you do this, did you give him any magic?” Chug asked.

“A sonar pulse, but it’s only temporary.” Kokiri answered.

“Yeah, yeah, the last time you gave someone “temporary” magic they managed to keep hold of it and keep it and that THIEF stole my potion as a result.” Chug said, crossing his arms.

“I didn’t want to give him the added magic, you’re the one who took pity on him.” Kokiri said calmly.

“Ok, so it’s both our faults the Na’Atiaas general stole it, but how he was able to shield himself from you is the big problem.” Chug said, tapping his bottom lip in thought.

“We’ll get into that debate later, right now you have a patient that needs your attention.” Kokiri said and rubbed his hands together. “I can clear him up so you can grab the globs, that sound better?” he asked.

“Yeah, let me get my tools.” Chug mumbled and fished them out of his hat and then poised over Blade, ready for another operation.

“Ok, now hold very still Blade, but keep up that breathing.” Kokiri said and hovered his hands over Blade’s left foot and turned the boot, the pants ankle area and his foot into clear water to expose the metal bones.

Chug then entered with his precision tweezers and removed the big globs before doing a thorough search for any little ones, having Jester and Pinhead hold a magnifying glass over the foot to get a closer look. The whole process took a good twenty minutes before Blade sighed in relief.

“I think that’s the last of it.” Chug said, pulling away and grabbing hold of the magnifier before Jester dropped it.

Kokiri returned everything to what it was and massaged Blade’s leg. “Feel better?” he asked.

Blade nodded, relaxing more as the massage helped a great deal. Slightly painful, but it helped.

“Good. It’s best you’re relaxed anyway, you’re not gonna like this next part.” Kokiri mumbled, earning a hit on the arm from Chug and chuckled.

“ _. . . What?_ ” Blade asked, looking between the two brothers, a feeling of dread now entering his stomach.

“Since you have magic that’s mending your leg and transforming it at the same time, you’re gonna have to wait a bit on the physical therapy.” Chug said.

“ _What?_ ” Blade asked in a slightly panicked tone.

“It’s back in the chair with you scary-man.” Kokiri smirked and then chuckled when Blade groaned. 

“ _No-o-o-o!!! I don’t wanna go back in the chair!_ ” he moaned, helpless as his brothers laughed at his childish display.

“Look, it may not be for long, this time. You could be up and walking in maybe an hour or two. Kegs’ magic works pretty fast.” Chug said, Blade shooting his head at that news and looked at the brother with hope in his eyes before realization shone in them as he remembered their talk last night.

“ _Your physical injuries lasts only a few seconds!_ ” he said, feeling very hopeful now.

“Yes, but that’s because I had learned the ability when I was four years old and had to relearn it when I was ten.” Kokiri said.

Blade slumped back against the coffee table in despair, his hopes dashed.

Kokiri looked at the screen that was still scanning Blade’s leg and noticed something positive. “But the kid is right. You don’t have to wait long. It’s nearly done.” he said and showed the picture to Blade.

Chug explained every detail of the newly reconstructed foot and estimated that Blade should be fully healed by midnight if he kept to task with the healing program.

Desperately not wanting to be handicapped and confined to a chair for another day, Blade agreed and was taken to a separate room for the recuperation, Jester and Pinhead being his assistants.

Chug and Torch went back up to the attic room to finish their work so that left Kokiri and Six alone in the lounge room.

“ _So you gave Blade some magic, huh?_ ” Six asked.

“Yeah, what'cha gonna do about it, Sorcerer?” Kokiri asked.

“ _And you can take away magic?_ ” Six asked.

“Yes.” Kokiri answered.

“ _I’d ask for proof, but . . ._ ” Six shrugged.

“You try using magic against Torch to revert him back to his emotionless state, you’re not only going to have your magic removed, the kid will grind you to a pulp that you’d be begging for his mercy.” Kokiri said calmly and lied down on the couch. “Of course, if the kid or his creations catch you anywhere near Torch, alone, no matter what intentions you have, you’d wish I’d found you first. He can mess with the mind like nobody’s business.” Kokiri added.

“ _Ah, that doesn’t scare me. . . It’s the tutus._ ” Six grumbled and began walking towards the doorway.

“It’ll be more than tutus, Sorcerer, he used to be in theater productions. So unless you want to perform the lead in Swan Lake in front of your brothers, you’d best heed my warning.” Kokiri said.

Six shuddered at the mental image of that and continued on his way. There has got to be a way to get Torch back to that emotionless state and remain alive, unharmed and out of the brothers’ bothersome meddling at the same time.

.

Kokiri could feel Six’s negative energies swirling inside him as he tried to think of a way to get to Torch, but Chug had declared Torch as his ‘wee bairn’ so Kokiri was gonna do everything he would to keep it that way.

A blue butterfly fluttered in through the open window and landed on his raised finger.

‘It would seem Afzel is being corrupted. How do you propose to tell your little ones to defend against him when they’ve been brothers for so long?’ he thought to the butterfly.

‘ _Afzel was always determined to grow himself an army of living puppets to fight against Sutekh._ ’ the butterfly replied. ‘ _But he must not succeed. Torch was designed to be a general for this army, but the brains I used were those of a still-born baby animal in an attempt to foil his plans, but it backfired and he was brought to life and still managed to kill. Your brother must keep him safe for his own protection. I do not wish for him to have to lead such a bloody life like the others had to._ ’

‘Not to worry, the kid will take very good of him. He’s already claimed him as his own and is designing a new body for him as we think.’ Kokiri smirked.

‘ _I’m glad to hear that. According to how your years work, Torch is only two years old. And please help Blade with his nightmares, Jester looks up to him the way your brother does to you._ ’ the butterfly stated and flew off back outside.

‘Only when he’s ready to talk about it Andre, you cannot rush that kind of trauma.’ Kokiri thought and sat up to go back to the ocean.

.

.


	32. Captured Again/Pinhead and Tunneler

Blade was ecstatic to be back on his own two feet. He had to wait seven hours before the kid could officially declare him fit and he handed in his ebony cane, got his knife back and started swiping at the air, feeling its familiar weight before he happily ran off to get away from the kid.

He headed down to the kitchen to test his new leg on the slippery tile and see how he faired with it unsupervised. Jester had followed him of course, but he was fine with that. As long as it wasn’t under the kid’s watchful blue eyes and his scorpions and spiders, and Jester needed to get away from his phobia source anyway, even though they were smaller than him. He could easily stomp on them with his foot if he wanted to, but Jester didn’t like hurting innocent creatures, no matter how scary they were.

So there he was strolling into the kitchen feeling so giddy about the test that he honestly felt like dancing. But let’s not give Jester any reason to laugh at him. He looked back at Jester who seemed more brave about entering the kitchen, even though the movie they’d seen the night before had proved that there was a large T-Rex on the premises that could attack them. And there was that tarantula’s cave somewhere inside one of the walls.

“ _So, how’s the new leg working?_ ” Jester asked, striding up to Blade when he noticed he was falling behind.

“ _It feels great! Hardly any different from the original wood! The toes are a new sensation, though._ ” Blade answered, stopping long enough to wiggle his new metal toes in his boot.

“ _Maybe if you work with them long enough, you’d be able to pick things up with them like the brothers do._ ” Jester giggled.

“ _Probably. Boy, that’d be weird._ ” Blade said and they continued on.

“ _Weren’t you attacked in the kitchen when those totems first arrived?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Yes, right over there and we killed the thing over there where that T-Rex is watching us._ ” Blade said and they stopped in their tracks and stared at the large red Tyrannosaurus Rex in a deer-in-the-head-lights stance.

The red T-Rex was huge compared to them. Blade knew he was 15 inches tall, give or take a few centimeters, and the totems were roughly the same height, but when the Rex attacked the totem from the beach the totem had to look up at it. Putting everything in scale with the Jurassic Park movie he'd once watched with a previous master, with the totem as Dr. Grant, the T-Rex seemed about 15 inches taller, so the T-Rex was probably able to eat them in one bite.

“ _It’s staring at us._ ” Jester whispered.

“ _Maybe if we don’t move it won’t see us._ ” Blade whispered back.

“ _This isn’t Jurassic Park! It’s mechanical and probably able to pick up on our neural energy!_ ” Jester hissed.

They stayed quiet, staring down the T-Rex.

“ _Have you been studying the kid’s medical books?_ ” Blade whispered.

“ _Yes, I thought it might come in handy._ ” Jester whispered and they started to back up. But with every step they took backward, the T-Rex moved forward.

“ _Um, I think it sees us._ ” Jester said and they walked faster; the T-Rex also picking up its pace.

“ _Should we run?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Yeah, I think we should!_ ” Blade shouted and they both turned and ran, the T-Rex roared and charged after them. 

They had barely made it out the door when another T-Rex came at them, snapping at their heads as they ran past and joined the first T-Rex in its chase. They ran down to the dining room and separated, separating the Rexes, and weaved through the many tables and chairs that were under sheet covers. The Rexes still managed to follow them knocking over some chairs in the process. Jester tried to bait it and have it trap its jaw in the table’s leg, but strong bites took care of that problem, but it did tip the table over and trapped it for a few seconds.

The first T-Rex knocked a chair over and managed to ensnare the end of Blade’s coat in its teeth, snagging him at a sudden clothes-line stop and then headed back to the kitchen when it was sure he wouldn’t get away.

“ _JESTER!! FIND THE OTHERS AND TELL THEM TO STAY AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN!!_ ” he shouted and looked around when he heard bells jingling.

“ _Uh, about that. . . ._ ” Jester said, hanging from the other Rex’s mouth by the trim of his shirt, gripping his hat so it wouldn’t fall.

“ _What-What are they doing? Why aren’t they eating us?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _My guess it has something to do with this._ ” Jester said and tapped the Rex’s nose.

“Brutus, Nero, could you please find Blade and Jester and bring them down to the lab? I’d like to know what they know about those totems and this Sutekh fellow, but DON’T SCARE THEM.” said Chug’s recorded voice.

“ _A little late on the scaring!_ ” Blade yelled, kicking and waving his arms in a fit and spun around.

“ _You know, I think he does this on purpose just to see you throw a fit._ ” Jester said and giggled to himself as Blade pouted on the way to the kitchen.

“ _I just got over the whole cabin thing and he goes and pulls this stunt!!_ ” Blade growled and crossed his arms.

“ _Look on the bright side. At least you didn’t lose your hat this time, and you’re not spun in a web._ ” Jester said, covering his mouth to stifle is giggling as Blade grumbled incessantly.

.

Pinhead and Tunneler were walking down a hallway, Blade having told them to scout around to see if they could come across any of the kid’s creations and get acquainted.

“ _Can you work your drill properly yet?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Only for a few minutes then it stops again. The kid’s looking into some stainless steel for a new one._ ” Tunneler answered and looked down a vent duct that lead to the ballroom. “ _Maybe we should head down this one. It was our major traffic source in the old days._ ” he suggested and started to twist a screw to remove it.

“ _Wait, stop!_ ” Pinhead called, noticing something shiny along the vent’s frame.

Tunneler stopped and Pinhead took a closer look with a small magnifying glass the kid had given them for safety measures. “ _There’s wires all along the frame, I think it’s booby-trapped._ ”

Tunneler looked through the magnifier and agreed with Pin. “ _It’s wired to the screws. Removal of just one will set it off._ ” he said and they went to look for another vent to search.

They came across a group of little bird like creatures very similar to the ones from the kid’s medical team from the space ship that were chittering to each other but stopped when they were spotted. They didn’t flee in surprise like Pinhead thought they would, instead they just looked at them and had a stare down.

“ _Um, now what do we do?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _The kid said they can understand people and communicate with each other through their neural energy the same way as we do. So, I guess we can just, I don’t know, talk?_ ” Tunneler suggested.

“ _Like what, exactly?_ ” Pinhead asked quietly.

“ _I don’t know, but I’ll greet them, if you don’t want to._ ” Tunneler offered.

“ _I don’t want to. I’m socially awkward._ ” Pinhead said right away.

Tunneler walked a few steps towards them, not sure if they would flee or charge, and cleared his throat. “ _Hello there, my name’s Tunneler and this is my brother Pinhead. Are you able to understand us?_ ” he asked.

The little birds looked at each other, chittering softly before one of them, one with a black rounded beak, yellow eyes, brown and white feathers, looking very much like a brown sparrow but with a gold crest on its head, nodded.

“ _Ok, can you understand full on sentences, or just certain words?_ ” Tunneler asked.

The bird cocked its head to the side once, looked back and chirped.

“ _Um, can you speak people-talk?_ ” Tunneler asked, deciding to use ‘people-talk’ instead of ‘human-speech’. The brothers didn’t like humans and had probably trained their creatures to despise the word.

The brown bird shook its head and squawked loudly, causing both Pinhead and Tunneler to flinch at the loud noise.

“ _Boy, that’s loud._ ” Pinhead mumbled quietly, rubbing his ear.

“ _So, uh, how many of you are there in the hotel?_ ” Tunneler asked.

The birds chirped amongst themselves for minute before the brown sparrow barked ten times.

“ _Ok, ten of you. Uh, how many um, tarantulas?_ ” Tunneler asked.

Five of the birds barked seven times, Tunneler took that as 35 tarantulas.

“ _Thirty-five tarantulas, that’s a lot._ ” he said quietly to himself and was about to ask about the scorpions when a 12 inch long black scorpion came around the corner, thrum-hissing at the birds. With the birds next to it, Tunneler guessed that the scorpion was about maybe five inches tall off the ground, pincers twice the size of his head, and then he looked up at the stinger and gulped. That thing was massive and so high in the air that he actually felt afraid for his and Pinhead’s safety. The stinger looked to be maybe 30 inches off the ground.

He had been thrown across rooms, slammed against walls, had a floor lamp stomped on his back. He’d been captured, dissected, analyzed and fiddled with and never blinked. But this was a scorpion! The pincers could crush his skull like a tomato, his drill could probably fend off the tail, but the pincers would pin him down for a clear shot. He could die a horrible, slow, painful and burning death if that thing stung him at the IV cord’s entrance.

The last thing he remembered before he could admit that he fainted was that Jester’s phobia was now understandable. He didn’t actually remember fainting, but he did remember waking up to Pinhead tapping his cheek to wake him, asking if he was ok.

“ _What happened?_ ” he asked, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. The good thing about being made of wood, you didn’t get lumps from bumps on the noggin.

“ _You fainted._ ” Pinhead answered, sitting back on his heels.

“ _I don’t faint. Something must have hit me._ ” Tunneler mumbled.

“ _No, you fainted._ ” Pinhead said and stood up to help Tunneler.

“ _I do not faint. Jester does._ ” Tunneler said forceful tone, dusting himself. “ _Although now I can see why he does. That scorpion was huge._ ” he mumbled.

“ _I’ve seen Jester faint plenty of times. You fainted._ ” Pinhead said in the same tone.

“ _I never faint._ ” Tunneler gritted, dusting his uniform once more and straightening it.

“ _Say what you want, but I know._ ” Pinhead said and continued down the hall.

.

.


	33. A Bit of Chug's History/Torch's As Well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> bold letters = demonic Kokiri  
> bold Italic = 'God' Kokiri  
> .:*:.  
> Torch's part will be read the way I believe his thought patterns work, in case it doesn't make sense to any of you. I like to think of Torch as a toddler.

Chug Yamazaki was typing away on his computer, reading and analyzing the scans he took on a dead creature that closely resembled the Sukka scouts but on a more primal level. He was curious about the big three inch hole in its stomach.

He and Torch had a hit a bump in the road with their project and Torch was getting tired so he put him down for a nap in his room. Then he thought about Blade’s reactions during the movie the night before and decided to see what they knew and maybe find out who this Sutekh person was.

Blade had run off in a dust storm to get away from him, yelling “I’M FREE!” when he declared him physically fit and removed the cane, giving his blade back. He just chuckled at his antics and let Jester down off the table so he could follow him. Being a doctor was fun sometimes.

But now he needed Blade to help him with the analysis of the creature so he sent the two T-Rexes down to the kitchen with a message, asking them to bring Blade and Jester to the lower lab without scaring them. He didn’t think they would do anything to actually harm them, but not scaring them seemed a bit too much to ask. Still, he wanted the analysis done as quickly as possible and the only way to do that was with Blade’s help.

“Oh-h-h, he’s _so-o_ gonna hate my guts for this stunt.” he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

He turned in his seat when he heard the elevator hiss to a stop and opened with a ding. The Tyrannosauruses stepped out, one holding a pouting, brooding, stewing Blade by the end of his coat, and the other held Jester by the trim of his shirt. Blade locked eyes with Chug and his little dagger eyes popped out and he hissed like a cat.

“Wha . . . Oh yeah. I took the earpiece out. Hold on a sec.” Chug mumbled tiredly and yawned a big yawn. He smiled when he caught Blade yawning as well and glared even harder at him. “Okay, rant away.” he said as he adjusted the frequency on the earpiece.

Blade let loose and hissed away. “ _\--and then you had to go and pull this stunt you . . . you-you. . . . you . . . YOU!!!_ ” he screamed and then crossed his arms in a huff, swinging back and forth from his fit.

“If you don’t calm down you’re gonna scare Jester away.” Chug said with a shrug. “I should know. Kegs used to yell like that all the time when we were kids, and not always at me.” 

Blade ‘hmph’ed and looked away, feeling a little ashamed about his rant now that that was pointed out. He looked at Jester who flinched ever so slightly and slumped his shoulders.

Of course that action caused him to slip right out of his coat and land on the floor with a loud thud, tearing his coat in the process and his hat falling to the ground.

“ _Are you ok?_ ” Jester asked in a slight holler.

“ _I’m fine!_ ” Blade replied back also in a slight holler.

“ _At least you landed on your feet!_ ” Jester called and was finally lowered to the ground.

“ _Yeah, at least I have that._ ” Blade sighed and then pulled Jester into a hug. “ _I don’t mean to scare you so much._ ” he mumbled.

“ _It’s alright, I’d be crabby too._ ” Jester smiled and returned the hug.

The T-Rex that held Blade dropped his now ruined coat on them and then both left back to the kitchen.

“Thanks, guys.” Chug called after them and got a chuffing noise in response.

Jester put Blade’s hat back on his head and they headed over to the desk, stairs automatically appearing as they did so.

“ _Alright, what is it you want that you had to scare the life out of us?_ ” Blade asked.

“What do you know about this creature?” Chug asked, showing them the thing with the hole in its stomach.

“ _Whaa--?! What are you doing with that thing?! Where’d you find it?!_ ” Blade asked, freaking out at the dead totem he was just talking about five minutes ago with Jester.

“It was brought down from the kitchens about five or six years ago.” Chug answered. “It’s completely and thoroughly dead, I assure you,” he quickly added. “but these readings from it throw me off of my own knowledge of magic and science.” he sighed and leaned back in his chair, ruffling his hair and yawning.

“ _Maybe you should get some rest before you do a deep analysis on the creature._ ” Jester said, feeling a little concerned that the kid could get sick from all this exhaustion. “A well-rested mind can do wonders on riddles.” he added.

“ _Jester, that was very profound of you._ ” Blade mumbled.

“ _I have my moments._ ” Jester smiled, toeing the desk in embarrassment with his hands behind his back.

“I got a good night’s rest.” Chug pouted indignantly.

“ _You tossed and turned for two hours before you cried yourself to sleep._ ” Jester replied and then spun his head to his shocked expression and covered his mouth.

“So? I couldn’t sleep and crying helped.” Chug said with a shrug and yawned another big yawn, getting Blade to yawn again as well.

“ _Stop it._ ” he grumbled sleepily, slurring his words.

“Torch was worried about you when you cried in your sleep as well.” Jester said quietly, rubbing an arm.

Chug just looked at him and blinked sleepily. “Did I say anything?” he asked.

Jester was starting to look like a child that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “ _You were mumbling something about . . . ‘cold beef’, I think._ ” he mumbled and started to shy away towards Blade.

Chug sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Colby.” he corrected.

“ _Who?_ ” Blade asked.

Chug took a deep breath and let it out. “FBI agent I fell in love with. He fell out of love and preferred his first and broke my heart. So I had his memories of our times together and his love for me removed in a painful way. Colby no longer remembers me, but I still remember him and as a result I’ve nearly lost all of my Cartoon Powers.” Chug said in a one breath.

“ _Cartoon Powers?_ ” Jester asked.

“Cartoons are practically unstoppable, Jess. You should watch a little more TV.” he said and stood up to stretch. “Now that that’s over with, let’s get back to the problem at hand. So, how much do you know about this Sutekh guy?”

.

Torch woke from his nap and was now wandering around his master’s room. He was told not to leave it until master returned so he waited. He liked his master a lot because he gave him a lot of attention that the previous masters never gave. They mostly feared him because of his flamethrower, and preferred the others over him, namely Jester or Blade. Most times not even waking him or never bothering to see if he was with the other puppets.

There were even a few times when he was left behind and sold off until he met with them again. He figured they were still mad at him for caging them up when the creepy-doll lady was brought to life. He didn’t know any better, he was just doing as he was told. They later killed her and caged him and left him in the dark as punishment and he was there for a long time.

It wasn’t until the totems appeared that they revealed him to Rick Myers and was brought back. He didn’t want to be put back in the dark and so behaved himself to show that he could and thought that maybe he could get into their good graces by torching the thing they were chasing. He managed to fend it off but then it attacked with magic and paralyzed him. That magic had heightened his senses and he was able to feel things the others couldn’t. The whole hotel was alight with static electricity and he could feel things moving around beneath his feet.

When the guy with the glasses came back up the elevator he sensed that the man was not a good man. There was a deep burning from him that just felt icky and yuck and he didn’t like it so he torched him. Then he remembered the human kid he fired at when he was first made. It wasn’t his fault, it was self defense. The human kid was whipping him with a whip and it hurt. It caught on his neck and he was flung to the ground, hard. He wanted the human kid to hurt too and so fired at him. It was only meant to scare him, but it caught him in the face and he ran screaming. The human kid looked like he was having fun and Torch wanted to play too, but the human kid was bigger than he was and he was frightened by it.

And then there was the lady-doll in the pink dress. She was nice to him from the get-go. He didn’t understand it at first and didn’t bother with it until an hour ago when he told his Master about it. The Master explained that since she was once Elsa Toulon, Andre Toulon’s wife, she was his mother and she was doing what all mothers did when they receive a new child. She was taking care of him.

He started crying about her death again after that, but felt closer to Master when Master told him that his mother was dead too. Master’s mom was killed by a car, a . . . hit-and-run, he said. Master was only twelve years old when that happened-did, but he was only six when he saw her last.

Master told him about Elsa Toulon as much as he could. But he didn’t know her very well and so couldn’t give a lot of information.

Torch sat down at a bookshelf and started sifting through them. Some of them were thick and heavy, others were very skinny and light, some were as hard as a rock and others were wobbly like paper. He couldn’t read very well, but he was starting to get bored. Maybe master can read to him and teach him how.

Not finding an interesting book he threw himself on the ground and growled, his eyes were lit up in frustration. He blinked when he saw a mouse scurry past on top of the bookshelf.

“ _Hey!_ ” he called out, hoping the mouse would stop and see him. “ _Hello!_ ” he called again, and the mouse stopped this time and looked down.

~ _Yes?_ ~ it squeaked.

“ _Can you read?_ ” Torch asked.

~ _A little. Why?_ ~

“ _Do you know any good books?_ ”

~ _Yes, there are several and all are up here._ ~

“ _Can you bring one down?_ ”

~ _Can you read?_ ~

“ _No._ ”

~ _I’ll be right down._ ~ the mouse squeaked and lowered itself two shelves below, browsed and selected a book. ~ _Look out below!_ ~

Torch moved out of the way and let the book fall on its spine, opening up as it did. He closed it and tried to read out the title. “ _Tre. .Tre . . . Treas-sure ‘I-Is’land._ ”

~ _’I’land’._ ~ The mouse corrected, walking to him. ~ _The ‘s’ is silent._ ~

Torch opened the book to the first page and let the mouse read to him.

.

.


	34. A Surprise Present For Jester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes at the end are not exactly relevant to the story itself, its more to do with my boys. But if you want to imagine the voices of my boys, there are a few suggestions.

.

Chug was on his way up the stairs to his room because Jester had told him to go to sleep first before they did any work on the totems. He would’ve argued but Jester’s screech had him up and out of the chair in five seconds, screaming out his agreement. Man, Jester can be so persuasive. He reminded him of when he was once that persuasive. Jester and Blade were a lot like he and Kegs in many ways.

Jester looked to Blade for protection the way he used to with Kegs back at the Academy, Blade would throw the biggest fit if he was confined to limited mobility the same way Kegs would if he was grounded and confined to Amanda’s office, both yelled a lot in these fits. Jester didn’t like the yelling or loud noise in general unless it was about having fun and didn’t like to harm innocent creatures, same as him.

Jester may have a bad case of arachnophobia, but it wasn’t strong enough to stop him from getting help for his brother. Chug was the same way. Chug didn’t like wandering the halls of the Academy by himself unless he absolutely had to or if Kokiri was with him, but when Kokiri was placed in the hospital Chug had no choice. Amanda would sometimes take him to classes when she could, but as the Head Administrative, she couldn’t take a lot of time off to do so.

And then when Kegs was finally released, he was still too fragile and lot of former bullies took advantage of that. Chug had found his strength from that and was able to fend off the bullies by throwing an old out-of-order washing machine at them, barely missing his brother.

And so their cycle of protecting one another began and he was soon just as dangerous as Kokiri by the time his own 15th birthday arrived.

He entered his room, closed the door, tossed his hat on his desk and flopped down on the bed with a loud, tired sigh. “Hey Torch.” he smiled and pulled himself up to the headboard. “What'cha readin’?” he asked, pulling Torch and the book he was holding in his lap close.

“ _Um, (closes book to read title) Treasure Island._ ” he answered, scooting closer to Master when he took the book away and placed an arm around him.

“I love this book. Would you like me to finish reading it to you?” he asked.

Torch nodded and they both got comfortable.

.

Blade and Jester had been taken back to the lobby of the hotel, not wanting to go back to the kitchen. Blade wasn’t done testing his leg so he suggested they go up to the kid’s room and see if he had any books on paleontology.

“ _Why?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Because the brother suggested it when we were watching that movie,_ ” Blade said heading towards the elevator.

“ _But why paleontology?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _His ship is based off of a creature called a lio- . . . lio- . . . liople . . . something. It's called a something. But I’m sure we’ll recognize it when we see it._ ” Blade said, reaching the elevator doors and pulled at the doors.

Jester helped but they were barely strong enough to slide it open enough to let Jester slip through. Blade used his new leg to push against the door frame, his back against the door, for himself to get through and fell in when the door finally opened up on its own before closing again.

Jester climbed up to the buttons, pushed the sixth floor button then jumped down to help Blade up. “ _So, how was it? Did you hurt yourself?_ ” he asked, dusting Blade’s back. Chug had taken the coat for repairs, but had promised to bring in the clothing trunk after he rested.

“ _Works just like a leg._ ” Blade said and wiggled his toes inside the boot. “ _My toes spread apart. Having toes is . . . quite a new feeling._ ”

“ _The sawdust paste grafted over it with ligaments and things, didn’t it?_ ” Jester asked, tapping his index fingers together.

“ _Yeah, why?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Do you have a sense of touch on them?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _I don’t know. We’ll find out later, ok?_ ” Blade said and stepped off the elevator, the doors having opened themselves when it went ‘ding’.

They headed up the stairs to the attic room and knocked on the door.

“ _Why are we knocking? We know a way in._ ” Jester said and turned but Blade grabbed his shirt collar with his hook to hold him back.

“ _Because the kid probably put up one of his security systems in the ducts and we might get caught in one of his traps and left helpless until God knows when._ ” Blade said and knocked again.

Jester sighed and swayed on his feet as they waited for someone to answer, sitting down when ten minutes past. “ _Maybe he’s asleep._ ” he suggested.

“ _Maybe, so we’ll wait._ ” Blade said and slid down the wall, both were quiet for while, lost in their thoughts.

“ _Didn’t the brother say he gave you a . . . a magic sonar pulse?_ ” Jester asked, trying to remember the exact kind of magic.

“ _Yeah, but it was only temporary, he said._ ” Blade answered and leaned his head against the wall with a sigh.

“ _But maybe you still have it? How does it work?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Like a sonar. Exactly like a sonar._ ” Blade said and put his hook to his chin in thought. “ _Do you know how echo-locations work?_ ” he asked.

“ _Bats?_ ” Jester questioned.

“ _Yeah, bats use echo-location to hunt. Whales do the same thing to determine distances, communicate and find their food._ ” Blade explained.

“ _Don’t they use it as a weapon too?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _I think so. But the sonar pulse is a lot like the whales’ version of echo-location._ ” Blade said.

“ _Well, if you can echo-locate in a field of crickets and sense your leg through it, maybe you can sense if there’s anything dangerous in the ventilation ducts._ ” Jester suggested.

Blade looked at him. “ _You know, that never occurred to me as a possibility._ ” Blade smiled and made himself comfortable for the meditation.

“ _So, how do you make it work?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _The brother said to imagine yourself in a black void. The sonar pulse is a pale blue ball of fire, and then to tap it and imagine it rippling outward like water ripples._ ” Blade answered and tried to picture the blue ball. He smiled as he found it was still there, burning away like a star.

“ _Ooh, that sounds pretty. I’ma try._ ” Jester said and followed the steps. He pictured the pale blue ball of fire real easy, imagining it as the brightest star when night fell. He was shocked to find a small green twinkling light, twinkling like the brightest star. “ _Blade!_ ” he screamed, making Blade flinch and snapping him out of the meditation.

“ _What?_ ” Blade clipped, annoyed at being disturbed.

“ _I found a light inside of me!_ ” Jester said.

“ _What?_ ” Blade repeated, but in a surprised tone.

.

Kokiri Yusaga was down at the beach, watching the waves crash against the shore, the white noise sound very soothing to the idiocy of the world when he felt a slight bump in the road. He turned his right ear in the direction of the hotel and listened. It wasn't Six Shooter, he could sense him anywhere on the property; the source was small, barely there, but enough for him to pick up.

He turned and headed back to the hotel. Maybe Blade managed to keep hold of his new magic and was developing another way on how to use it. Sonars were very useful and could be used in all sorts of ways. It could be used as a weapon, to locate hidden objects or people, see in the dark and sense other magicals if it was well developed.   
Now he just got himself interested and ran back to the hotel.

.

“ _What do you mean you found a pale blue light inside you? When did you get it?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _I don’t know, I was just copying what you said about the black void and the blue ball._ ” Jester said.

“ _But the brother is the only one who can grant magic and unless you asked for some without my knowledge--_ ” Blade said.

“ _I didn’t, I wouldn’t go behind your back about something like that. That’d be a major responsibility on my shoulders._ ” Jester said. “ _Besides, I’d be too scared._ ” he mumbled, shuffling his feet.

“ _Maybe the kid can explain it. He did say he has some knowledge about magic._ ” Blade suggested and rapped on the door again.

“ _He also said he was more skillful than magical._ ” Jester added and climbed up on Blade’s shoulders to reach the door knob and turned it, but someone on the inside had opened it and he fell to the floor.

“ _Can you guys keep it down? Master’s asleep._ ” Torch whispered.

“ _I thought he didn’t like you calling him master._ ” Blade said, waving his knife at him in a ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ manner.

“ _He likes me plenty!_ ” Torch grumbled.

“ _We know he does, Torch, but just to be on the safe side you shouldn’t call him master. Boss sounds . . . shorter._ ” Jester said and stood up and dusted himself.

“ _Shh!_ ” Torch hissed and looked back at the bed. “ _He’s sleeping!_ ” he whispered and let them in.

“ _Well, could you wake him? We’ve got a few questions to ask him about something._ ” Blade said walking over to the desk to climb up but Torch stopped him.

“ _There’s a scorpion up there. A big black one._ ” he said and headed over to the bed and tried to climb back up without making too much noise.

Blade and Jester watched as Torch jumped up and tried to grab hold of the blankets but kept sliding back down. He jumped and grabbed a small handful and kicked his feet, trying to pull himself up but just slowed down his slide. Blade looked at Jester who had his big smile on his face, his hands clasped together in that ‘Aw, just cute!’ pose, and waved at him. Jester looked over and Blade motioned to help him since he couldn’t, he might hurt him. Or get damaged. Jester nodded and went over to push Torch up when he grabbed another handful of blankets.

Torch still couldn’t get up and slid down and landed on Jester. Having only one hand sucked and he threw a fit in frustration.

“Torch?” Chug called sleepily, rolling over to the side, lifted him up and snuggled under the covers with him. “My wee bairn, do you want to sleep with me?” he chuckled and fell back asleep. Torch immediately calmed down and went quiet.

Blade headed over to Jester to see if he was ok. He was little and more likely to snap a limb in half than the other puppets. Even Tunneler was more built than he was. Having a full metal puppet squash you from a fall and throw a fit could have been damaging to him.

“ _Are you ok? Do you feel bruised? Do you see two of me? Can you move?_ ” Blade asked in quick recession.

“ _I’m fine, just winded._ ” Jester moaned breathlessly and sat up and clutched his stomach. “ _He landed on my stomach._ ” he wheezed and took a slow deep breath.

“ _Ouch. Come on, let’s see if he has any magic books in here._ ” Blade said, helping Jester up.

“ _Maybe I should’ve climbed up and tossed him something to help him._ ” Jester panted and leaned against a bookshelf to take another deep breath. “ _Now I know how Six felt when Torch fell on him._ ” he groaned. “ _Cor, he’s heavy!_ ” he gasped. “ _How. . . How does that sonar thing work again?_ ” he asked, the pain starting to get worse.

Before Blade could answer the scorpion on the desk rose up and saw Jester.

~ _Mr. Jester, so good to see you again._ ~ it said, saluting him with his tail.

“ _Again? When did you come across this one?_ ” Blade asked.

~ _Dear me, you look as though you’re in terrible pain. What happened?_ ~ the scorpion asked.

“ _Torch fell on him. Who are you?_ ” Blade asked. “ _And why can I understand you?_ ” 

~ _I am large enough to have a dual neural chip inserted into my brain which allows me to speak to both animals and people._ ~ the scorpion answered.

“ _The kid can do that?_ ” Blade asked and was put back on track when Jester groaned in pain and saw that he had curled in on himself still clutching his stomach.

~ _Bring him over here._ ~ the scorpion said and crawled over to the edge of the desk and opened the first drawer with his tail and reached in with its tail. The bottom drawer opened up and there was a medical bed inside. ~ _Place him inside and make sure he lies down straight._ ~ 

Blade brought Jester over as best he could with his knife and hook and tried to gently place him on the bed.

.

Kokiri was back in the hotel and in his human form, heading up to Chug’s room. The little tingle of magic he felt was getting a little stronger and began to pulse when a loud ‘ping!’ rang in his ears.

‘What the-?’ he thought, shaking his head and digging in his ears. The ping sounded again and he shook his head again to clear it of the high-pitched noise. He quickened his pace when the ping continued to ring.

He entered the room and saw Blade trying to get Jester, who looked to be in immense pain, inside Chug’s bed scanner.

“What’s going on here?” he asked and flinched and covered his ears when Blade looked directly at him. “Well, I know who was shouting for help now.” he mumbled and dug in his ear again and took hold of Jester, hovering his left hand over his stomach since it seemed to be the source of his pain. “Now, let’s see what’s wrong.” he mumbled and went quiet.

Jester’s abdomen was bruised and his formula was bubbling into an overload.

“Jester, there’s something really wrong here and it could kill you unless you allow me to freeze you.” he said in a serious tone.

“ _Freeze him! Freeze him!_ ” Blade immediately said, panicking that Jester could die.

“Jester?” Kokiri asked.

Jester nodded and was instantly frozen into solid, crystal clear ice. Even his clothes and bells were frozen. The formula, the wiring of his gears, the IV cord, all frozen but could be made out if one looked closely enough. Kokiri set Jester in the bed and closed the drawer.

“ _What are you doing?! That’s my brother you froze and stored away!_ ” Blade screamed.

Though when Chug woke . . .

“Is Blade in here? I can hear some incessant, hysterical hissing.” he mumbled, rubbing an eye and sat up, yawned and stretched.

“There’s something wrong with Jester. His formula is ready to bubble overboard.” Kokiri said quickly gathering Blade and stood up and away from the desk when Chug’s eyes popped opened and he leaped out of bed to find the reason for the bubbling.

“How long ago did the pain start, how did it happen and why did it happen in the first place?” Chug asked, opening the bottom drawer and finding the frozen Jester. He left him on the bed, covering the top with a metal slab and ran the scan. He could hear Blade hissing away but couldn’t understand him since he took his earpiece out in order to sleep.

“He said Jester was helping Torch up the bed when he slipped and landed on his stomach.” Kokiri answered for Blade.

“Who slipped? Torch or Jester?” Chug asked, bringing up a holo-computer and stared typing away on it, Jester’s imaging scan showing up in two seconds.  
Blade started hissing and waved his knife.

“Be nice, he is helping. Torch slipped and landed on Jester and threw a fit when he couldn’t get up. Why didn’t you help too?” Kokiri said, turning Blade around and looking him in the eye.

Blade hissed loudly and waved his knife and hook under Kokiri’s nose: “ _With what hands?!_ ”

“You could have easily used your hook to pull him up on to the bed. Do you use your common sense at all?” Kokiri asked and let Blade float in the air, not wanting to shake the life out of him.

“ _Torch is too heavy for me to lift him!_ ” Blade said, feeling his anger rise.

“If he was too heavy for you then why did you think Jester would be able to push him up? There’s this little thing called working together you know.” Kokiri countered and sat down on the bed. “You could have done the pushing and Jester could have done the pulling with your hook.”

“Kegs, I need you to return Jester’s colors, but keep him frozen.” Chug said, interrupting their little argument.

Kokiri did as asked and watched as Chug did a more in-depth scan. The results showing that the formula was reacting to something in his system. It wasn’t the bruise, that was minimal damage at best and would heal with some healing paste. Chug ran another scan on all sorts of levels and finally found the problem.

“Did you give him magic?” he asked, rounding on Kokiri.

“Magic? No, only Blade.” Kokiri said and hovered his right hand over Jester and did a magical scan. “Wha-at? How in the world?” he asked himself and did another scan with both hands this time. “What? This isn’t making any sense.” he mumbled and ran two more scans but came up with nothing. “I don’t know how he got a hold of some magic but I didn’t give it to him.” he said and leaned on the desk.

Chug sat back in his chair, also at a loss for words.

“What happened to your coat, B?” Kokiri asked.

“He fell out of it and tore it on accident.” Chug mumbled.

“Oh, shame. I liked that coat.” Kokiri said nonchalantly. “Do you still have-”

Chug pulled the ruined fabric out of his pocket and handed it over.

Kokiri balled up the fabric, floated Blade over to him and let it swirl back on his frame like water and voila, the coat was restored.

“ _Ok, how did you do that?_ ” Blade asked.

“All I did was repair it, the coat did the snake-swirl thing on its own.” Kokiri answered and went into deep thought.

“ _Ri-i-ight. Seriously, how’d you do it?_ ” Blade asked. Kokiri shooshed him and tapped the tips of his fingers together and crossed his legs to float in the air, very deep in thought.

Chug ran another scan, focusing on the formula and found something he missed. He ran it again and again before slapping himself on the forehead. “Duh, it’s the formula!” he said and ran its diagnostics and the little magic core inside Jester and compared them. “Yeah, I forgot about the formula I gave them. It was a variant of theirs I made back at the cabin.”

“And did this variant have my blood in it?” Kokiri asked.

“Yes, you know I always keep a vial handy. You never know when I need it to make the cyborgs’ healing potion.” Chug said, twirling his hat.

Kokiri raised an eyebrow at him. Blade dropped his jaw at them. It took Chug a moment to figure out why.

“Oh-h. It’s in your blood as well.” he mumbled and smiled sheepishly and placed his hat back on his head and started typing away on his holo-computer. “And magic tends to bond together and grow and often activate when a familiar source is near.” He motioned for Blade to stand on the desk for a scan of his own.

Blade did not like being in their clutches when they decided to run their experiments, but if it was going to help Jester get better he was willing.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The voice I have selected for Kokiri is Paul McCartney. Chug, I'm still trying to figure out. However, Chug's singing voice is that of Paul Stanley from KISS. Kokiri's singing voice resembles Paul McCartney, Ace Frehley of KISS, and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. He also sings some Elton John, most notably is Crocodile Rock. My sister pictures a younger Kokiri singing this tune. So far, Chug still sounds like a teenager to me.


	35. Day's Happening pt 3

.

Blade never left Jester’s side when he was finally out of critical condition, unfrozen and put into a soft bed with warm downy blankets and fluffy cotton pillows. Jester was there for him when he was sick and he was going to return the favor.

He was amazed that Torch had slept through the whole ordeal even when he was yelling his head off about having his clothes removed. He didn’t want them to see him naked!

All he had covering him was his pants, boots, shirt and the newly repaired trench coat.

Kokiri was getting fed up with his noncompliance and removed the clothes with his magic and forced Blade to lie down on the bed scanner.

“ _You cheater._ ” Blade grumbled and the drawer was closed for the scan.

“I like Blade but boy, can he throw a fit. Give me a call when you need me.” Kokiri said and excused himself back down to the beach.

Chug ran his scan and checked Blade’s molecular structure to see how far the magic had gone. Kokiri was powerful because he allowed his core to course through every fiber, molecule, cells and bloodstream in his whole being. It was even in every single strand of hair and had just recently been added to his glasses. Put simply, Kokiri seemed to be the very essence of magic.

But because of this he was very careful about himself and who he gave it to. There were no samples of his blood, there were no finger prints, no stool sample, no dental records, or any other record about Kokiri other than what he’s accomplished. Kokiri wouldn’t even allow himself to bleed for more than a few seconds. The only person in the whole universe he trusted his DNA with was Chug, and he never shared either.

Kokiri willed his DNA to always revert to plain water whenever it was drawn, unless Chug did the drawing. That was how Chug was able to have any samples with him when Kokiri wasn’t around to give.

Blade didn’t really have to be naked for this procedure but it ran a lot quicker. His clothes weren’t magical and it took time to sort through what had magic and what didn’t. Chug knew the coat was magical because he had dipped its mother-fabric into a potion that was designed to respond to its owner’s will and the will was stemmed from neural energy.

Chug was feeling more tired the longer he sat at his computer and he wanted to go back to bed so it was Naked Blade vs. Clothed Blade and naked won because it was less time consuming and gave him more time for sleeping.

.

Blade was stewing for a while in the drawer, watching the blue light of the scanner going over his naked self. He thought he was going to have to stand in front of them in his bare wood but the closed drawer helped with that bit of anger. Now he was brooding about the brother vanishing his clothes off of him without his consent. Why was he being scanned anyway? Jester was the one who was hurt. They should be scanning him.

The light stopped all of a sudden and the drawer opened and a towel was dropped over his waist before he was lifted out by a gloved hand and placed behind a private screen.

Then his coat swirled around him, putting itself on and buttoning itself.

“You’re done. You can go wait with Jester now.” Chug said, placed Blade’s hat back on his head and pointed him off in Jester’s direction.

Blade saw a curtained off section on a bookshelf but no way to get over. He turned back to ask how to get over but his right sleeve pointed at the desk’s edge where there was a little red coat button. He didn’t move so the sleeve pushed it for him and a holo-bridge showed up. He turned back to the kid but the coat started to slither off of him from the top and drag him towards the bridge.

.

Chug had taken the earpiece out so could only hear frantic hissing from Blade. He didn’t bother with him though because the molecular results from his scans showed an increase in his core and was starting to spread out to his body.

The coat that Blade now owned was a magical one. One that was soaked in a special potion that made it fire resistant, absorb and store away heat, morph into additional appendages like an extra arm or spider legs to climb walls or wings, turn into a shield to protect the wearer and whoever else they chose. And it wasn’t the only one. The fabric it came from was 12,000 square feet and had ten other siblings: red, blue, purple, white, brown and green, all producing special coats, jackets and capes.

But with every new owner they acted on their own. They didn’t have minds of their own, they worked from the wearer’s desire. Blade wanted to see Jester but didn’t know how to get across from the desk to the bookshelf so it showed him how with the bridge. When he didn’t move it then pulled him towards the bridge to take Blade to his desired goal.

.

Blade screamed, yelled, shouted, kicked his feet and plunged his hook in the desk to try and stop his possessed coat from dragging him across the pink-transparent bridge but all his hook did was cause a jagged scratch across the desk’s surface until there was no more desk and he was flung across the space and crashed into the bookshelf.

His coat then swirled back to his trench coat and helped him stand up. Blade pushed his hat out of his eyes and looked around and found that he was where he wanted to be. He quickly walked over to Jester’s bed, finding a comfy deep blue wing-back chair and sat down before anything else happened and heaved a sigh.

‘ _What is the deal with this coat?_ ’ he thought and focused on his core to calm down. “ _Jester, have I got a story to tell you when you wake up._ ” he muttered, falling asleep during his meditation.

.

Torch woke up but didn’t feel refreshed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his arms and did a mechanical yawned, alerting Chug to his presence. “Ah, mon doux petit enfant,” he said in a French accent and picked him up for a hug. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

Torch groaned and rested his head against Chug’s chest.

“Oh, not feeling well, are you? I think there’s an epidemic going on.” Chug said and left with him to another room he had designated as the proper medic room. He set Torch down on a medical bed and proceeded to have a complete look at him.

The results were very similar to Jester’s and he put in a call to his medical team to find and locate the rest of the Toulons and have them escorted to the room for a full medical.

. .

Ten Hours Later. . . . .

Jester finally woke form his slumber and looked around to find Blade sitting in a deep blue wing-back chair, apparently asleep. . . . and somewhat naked. He didn’t have his pants or his shoes on and he wondered what was up with that.

“ _Blade?_ ” he whispered, still feeling sore from Torch’s landing. “ _Blade._ ” he called out again.

Blade stirred and looked up to see Jester looking at him. “ _Hey Little One, how are you feeling?_ ” he asked.

“ _M’still sore, but I’m curious to know why you don’t have any pants or shoes._ ” he giggled and winced in pain.

“ _Oh, I have the brother to thank for that. The little weasel._ ” Blade grumbled and told Jester about the brothers’ findings of their scans. Jester was surprised to know that he was developing his own core and that Blade’s was growing. “ _And then while the kid was trying to move my arms to take my clothes the brother goes and waves them away as if they were a bothersome fly._ ” Blade said, making Jester laugh, albeit gently. “ _Then they place me in the bottom drawer and closed it._ ”

“How long were you in there for?” Jester asked.

“Not long, five minutes at least.” Blade said and then told Jester about his coat dragging him across the desk and being flung towards the bookshelf.

“No way, your coat?” Jester asked.

“ _Yeah, I’d prove it if I knew how._ ” Blade pouted and his coat responded by snaking off from the top and dragging him out of the chair and hanging him upside down, still facing Jester.

“ _Cor! I’d laugh my head off if I wasn’t badly injured._ ” Jester grinned and his face spun from his excess energy.

“ _Don’t you ever get dizzy from those?_ ” Blade asked still upside down.

“ _Not anymore. It did when I was new and Six used to tease me endlessly about it, calling me a drunk and all, but Father told him off and banished him to the trunk for a couple weeks without the formula._ ” Jester answered.

“ _Harsh. Can I get down now?_ ” Blade asked and was dropped, landing on his head, but was picked up, dusted and had his hat placed back on his head. The coat dusted it and tapped it down to a snug fit. “ _I think I may grow to like this coat._ ” he said and looked around for his other clothes, finding them on an end table neatly folded, along with his boots.

“Do you feel well enough to walk around?” Blade asked.

Before Jester could answer a rat wearing a doctor’s robe entered and squeaked at them.

“ _Aw, look at the cute little thing!_ ” Jester cooed, getting an annoyed look from the rat. “ _There was one just like this on the ship when you were sick._ ” he added.

The rat scribbled on its clipboard and gave it to Jester. ‘It’s still me.’ the note read.

“ _Oh, hello again miss._ ” Jester said and allowed the rat to do her duty.

He was confined to the bed for two more hours and had some weird smelling lavender color paste smothered over his stomach and then the rat left.

“ _Nice bed manners._ ” Blade mumbled and stood up to stretch his legs.

They were surprised when the curtain was pulled back and the brother greeted them.

“Hello, the kid wants you two in the medical room. Your brothers seem to all have gotten sick and he would like to keep you lot together.” Kokiri said and placed them on a floating device.

“ _So what’s this thing called?_ ” Blade asked.

“Trilobite. Bottom feeder of the cambrian age and was preyed upon quite frequently. The megalograptus being one of the hunters.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Megalo-what?_ ” Blade asked.

“Megalograptus. The red-scorpion ride.” Kokiri said.

“ _And your ship?_ ” Blade asked.

“Liopleuridon.” Kokiri answered.

“ _What’s paleontology?_ ” Jester asked.

“The study of prehistoric life. Would you like me to bring all the books we have? Or would you prefer TV?” Kokiri asked.

Blade and Jester looked at each other. “ _The kid said I needed to watch more TV._ ” Jester said.

“ _I’m not really in the mood to watch cartoons._ ” Blade said.

“So watch prehistoric documentation.” Kokiri said and entered the elevator.

On the way down the elevator jolted a few times and stopped between the fourth and third floor.

“This place seriously needs a major tune-up.” Kokiri said and waved at the doors, walls and flooring to make an exit, stepping down to the third floor, returning everything back to the way it was before they heard the elevator’s cord snap and crash to the ground.

“Still think I’m a cheat?” Kokiri asked, looking at Blade.

“ _When it came to my clothes, yeah. But this time, I think I’ll let it pass._ ” Blade answered.

“Uh-huh, well, I’ll have you guys set up in a section with a TV and you can pick from there.” Kokiri said and entered a room that had beds upon beds lined up all along two walls. One wall with the windows had all the technical things like the screens, scanners and computers. The last wall, to Kokiri’s right, held Chug’s potions and medicines and whatnots and his work space. “Hey kid, got the last two and they need a TV.” he said.

“Private section.” Chug said and placed Pinhead on a table and scanned him.

“And the east elevator’s broken. Snapped cable.” Kokiri said and put Blade and Jester in a curtained off section that had a TV and a DVD library.

“One thing at a time. Could you bring the trunks? Mine is in the backseat and their’s is in the trunk.” Chug said, finishing up with Pinhead and scanned Tunneler next.

Kokiri left the room to do as told.

“ _You seem to have a lot of control over your brother._ ” Six said, he seemed to be the only one who hadn’t gotten sick and was just waiting around the room while his brothers were scanned and processed. “ _What do you have on him?_ ” he asked.

“Nothing. It gives him something to do.” Chug said, reading over Tunneler’s scan results.

“ _But your brother is able to give and take magic. How come you don’t ask for some?_ ” Six said.

“I have magic of my own. I can control the earth and use its natural magic in my potions.” Chug said.

“ _Control the earth? As in cause earthquakes?_ ” Six asked.

“Yep, but only if you piss me off. This hotel is located on a cliff and if it falls due to an earthquake, not only will it fall into the ocean below the ocean will swallow it.” Chug said.

Six thought about this and tried to figure out how to get in the kid’s good graces and through him to Torch.

“I have a white silk frilly tutu on standby.” Chug said, picking up on Six’s neural readings.

Six immediately stopped his train of thought and tried to think of something else. 

“Just come out and say why you want Torch back to his emotionless state.” Chug said, finishing up with Tunneler and setting him next to Pinhead.

“ _What? I-I- . . . I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re crazy._ ” Six chuckled nervously.

“Yes, I am and don’t you forget that. . . . Afzel.” Chug said, grinning a maniacal grin at Six Shooter.

Six gulped and found himself back at square one: Which brother was more dangerous?

.

.


	36. Discussing Six Shooter

.

Pinhead and Tunneler were listening in on the kid and Six’s conversation. Why would Six want Torch in an emotionless state? Not just in it, but back to it? What did that mean? Tunneler wasn’t around when Torch was created, he had been captured and dissected an hour after he was woken. Pinhead didn’t know much, just that Blade was in charge of Torch when he was first created.

They weren’t the only puppets that were listening in on them, Blade and Jester were as well. Unlike them, they knew what the kid meant when he said Six wanted Torch back in his emotionless state but like their brothers, they couldn’t figure out why.

“ _I think we need to call a meeting with the other two._ ” Blade whispered.

Jester agreed and they selected a movie called ‘Twister’ and watched TV.

“ _What do you suppose is wrong with Pin and Tunneler?_ ” Jester asked quietly.

“ _Probably the same as you. The kid gave us all a variant of the formula. Which has me worried about Six._ ” Blade said.

“ _Why? The additional magic shouldn’t bother him._ ” Jester said.

“ _Probably. It could either help him or fight him. Six is the Sorcerer, remember?_ ” Blade said.

“ _Yeah, but the brother’s magic is adaptable._ ” Jester said.

“ _It’s his blood that makes the formula work and it may clash with the Sorcerer’s because the brother willed it to focus on life and protection with a hatred towards greedy humans._ ” Blade said.

“ _That is true. But why would he want Torch so bad that the brothers would threaten him with colorful tutus?_ ” Jester asked, and giggled at the mental image of Six Shooter in a white silk frilly tutu.

“ _That I can’t figure out._ ” Blade said and both pushed the thought to the back of their minds for later when they met with Tunneler and Pinhead.

.

Six Shooter tried to keep his mind off of Torch since he was confined to the medic room and the kid had all of his electronics on. The kid was a wiz at reading all the alien stuff that he didn’t understand and not because it was the fact that the kid was an alien himself. Six really didn’t understand all the technical things he was jabbering about like neural energies, molecular structures and all that. That was Dr. Hess’s department, that was why he gave the O.K for him to be included in Andre’s entourage of living puppets.

He had found out that the neural energy meant their brainwaves, their thoughts running through their heads when the kid had told him three times to stop thinking about Torch for whatever plans he had. Each time he was busted the kid would be looking at the screen for their neural energies and his always spiked whenever he turned to look at the kid.

He had no doubt that the others had heard his talk with the kid so he knew that a meeting would be held as soon as possible without him. But with Blade and Jester in a private section and Pinhead and Tunneler in one of the beds on the wall, asleep, and he himself confined in the room until dismissed, that meeting would have to wait.

But he couldn’t help it. Torch was perfect for his war against Sutekh. Sutekh wasn’t right for the power and the magical world was falling into stagnation. It had already happened once in Great Britain and Egypt wasn’t far behind. The people of Egypt had once looked upon them with reverence, but then the times changed and a new kind of magic was introduced that anyone could do: Science. But science wasn’t real magic, it just made it easier to understand how magic worked and thus the gullible populace shrank into almost non-existence.

There were some people who still believed in proper magic and claimed to be such magical people but they were false.

“So that’s why you want my wee bairn.”

Six was abruptly brought out of his thoughts when the kid spoke.

“You want to start a revolution and regain those sheep who used to fawn all over you. All the praise, the glory, the admiration and all-out God-like quality of life and riches. How very human.” Chug smirked.

“ _No, I’m not._ ” Six said, backing away when the kid started approaching. Cursing the fact that his guns had been melted and fused with his holsters when the brother had pinned him down three days ago.

“Oh no, not yet, but you’re getting there. You’re just a drop away from getting a full bar. Why don’t you save me and my brother the time and tell us why you want Torch for this revolution? Maybe he won’t eat you for it.” Chug stomped his foot when Six tried to made a run for it and summoned up a vine and easily caught him.

“Causing quakes is only when I’m pissed off. But annoyance is another matter.” Chug grinned and stomped his right foot three time in an even one-second session. A yellow flower started to emerge from the ground and grow until it reached Chug’s height of 5’10’’ and bloomed to reveal a mouth full of teeth. It breathed a calm sigh and relaxed in the sun pouring in through the window.

The vine holding Six grew and reached towards the kid. The Kid petted the flower, coaxing it to open its mouth wider in a yawn. Six was starting to panic.

“No, don’t worry. She’s a flesh eater. Wood gives her bad indigestion.” Chug said and gave Six a small burlap bag. “How about you feed her a snack? You’re obviously bored and keeping your primary goal of getting to Torch is getting hard to resist, isn’t it? And you can’t go anywhere unless I give the O.K, so, you might as well feed my plants.” Chug said and pulled a small round silver disc out of his hat and set Six on it and secured a line to his feet.

“Just because you’re going out on your own, doesn’t mean I won’t be monitoring you. This hover pad is sensitive to EMFs and magic will set the safety off, trapping you in a canister. So, behave yourself, savvy? And if you even think about--”

“ _Alright! Alright! I won’t do anything! Gimme the damn food!_ ” Six said, feeling very frustrated that his plans of sneaking off and away were foiled by so many security locks.

“Here you go.” Chug handed Six a miniature trunk that was labeled ‘Plant Food’ and an instructions manual and set him off on his way. Six grumbling under his breath as the hover pad hovered away with him.

“Now then, room’s clear, you can have your meeting and I can continue with my work.” Chug said and clapped his hands together twice setting up hover stairs all around the room and disappearing through a hidden door.

The four puppets left their beds and gathered on the work desk.

“ _The kid seems to have a thing for hidden doors, don’t you think?_ ” Tunneler asked and coughed a bit. “ _So what’s the deal with this magic business?_ ”

“ _The variant formula he gave us on the ship has the brother’s blood in it and the excess energy is gathering together to form a core._ ” Blade said. “ _It’s like the little globs of titanium in my foot, only it’s with the magic particles._ ” Blade said.

“ _So why was Jester hit so bad with this new formula? Pinhead and I only had minor dizziness and Six wasn’t bothered at all._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Six Shooter has his own core. He’s always had it._ ” Blade said. “ _But that’s what worries me the most._ ”

“ _The brother’s magic could possibly help him and strengthen it, or it could clash with it, depending on how human he gets is my guess._ ” Jester said.

“ _Okay, so why was Jester hit so bad that he had to be frozen solid?_ ” Pinhead asked.

Blade and Jester shrugged at the same time. “ _But back to the matter at hand. Does anyone have a clue on why Six wants Torch in an emotionless state?_ ” Blade asked.

Tunneler shook his head.

“ _All I know is that you were in charge of him when he was first born._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _I was low on gas._ ” Jester said, raising his hand.

“ _The only thing I can come up with is that in Torch’s emotionless state he was also very compliant when he was ordered to do something, no questions asked. So he might want him for that._ ” Blade said.

“ _Well, they had another talk about Torch._ ” Pinhead said. “ _The kid said something about Six wanting a war or something with Sutekh. Glory and riches and things._ ”

“ _Ugh, that is so common. That alone should have turned him fully human._ ” Jester said.

“ _The kid said Six was just a drop away. He might still get eaten._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Whatever Six has up his sleeves he cannot get to Torch. Jester’s fond of him now._ ” Blade said, getting a slap from Jester. “ _What? You are._ ”

“ _Just don’t tell Torch. I don’t think he’d be too keen on it._ ” Jester said.

“ _Why not? He is the baby of the group._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _But we didn’t exactly treat him as one. After we killed the creepy-doll lady we locked him in a cage until we got back to the hotel and then put him in the secret panel and left him there for three years._ ” Jester said.

“ _No, I mean he’s the baby. Dead Toulon used the brains of a dead still-born animal for Torch. At least that’s what I think he did. Father emerged long enough to do a bit of changing and he was muttering about something._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _What was he muttering about?_ ” Blade asked. “ _And how do you know the brains were from a still-born?_ ”

“ _Because its mother had just given birth and one of her litter was DOA._ ” Pinhead said. “ _He had me gather it the night he was revived. Saying something about foiling some plans._ ”

“ _Do you know what kind of animal it was?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _It was too dark._ ” Pinhead answered.

“ _So we don’t have any clue about Six’s motivations?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Guess not. So, how about we discuss this whole magic business?_ ” Tunneler suggested.

.

.


	37. Six Shooter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six Shooter and Kokiri have a little talk about Six's intentions towards Torch.

.

Six Shooter was seriously peeved about not having any opportunity of sneaking away. Now he was stuck in the garden house feeding flesh-eating plants. How the hell was he suppose to rage war against Sutekh if he didn’t have a proper general to lead his army? The others he wasn’t too concerned about. The formula he had taught Toulon ensured that they would obey him when the war started.

If the Retro Puppets had taken the formula they wouldn’t have turned on him and destroyed his original body beyond repair. Young Toulon had even believed their story about his plans and decided to seek help about confining his magic and then had locked him away in the trunk.

Six could hear voices while in the trunk but was suddenly put to sleep and didn’t wake up until the second world war had begun and his body had been remade. Toulon had said he would only bring him back if he agreed not to pull another stunt like that again. He agreed and as a peace offering, decided to give him the recipe for the formula that would still bring his puppets to life but wouldn’t fall under his spell like with the Retro Puppets.

At least not for a while. The time was nearing when his hard work would come in play. He had snuck in half a spell when the formula was still bubbling away in Toulon’s chemistry set. A spell that when he said the other half would have the puppets follow his every command, no questions asked.

But he wanted Torch because he wasn’t made the same way the others were and if he was going to be the general of his army then he needed him to be under his spell as well. But Dead Toulon had made minor changes to the original formula and the additional brains that were added made his spell ineffective. That and the animal brain he had used for Torch.

Six had to admit that he had gotten a little concerned when Sutekh’s Totem had cast his magic on Torch, thinking that maybe Torch would switch over, or maybe stop working completely. But he was fine, if a little hot-headed afterwards. It was made even better when Six found out that the other puppets didn’t really like Torch and were actually a little afraid of him.

But then the kid had to go all motherly on him and turn him into a big baby. Now Torch had claimed himself a master and would not leave his side.

“ _Oh-h-h this is gonna be hard! I need a general for my army!!_ ” he shouted, throwing a bag of seeds on the ground, and kicking another off the hover pad and then tipping the mini-trunk overboard and sat down cross-legged, crossing all his arms in anger. “ _How do I get Torch under my spell?_ ” he growled and let out an exasperated groan and lied back.

“Perhaps you if you tell me the real reason why you want Torch, I may just let you live.”

Six propped himself up on his first elbows and looked around, spotting the brother emerging from the shadows.

“ _I was hoping more along the lines of me telling you if you let me have Torch._ ” Six grinned.

“Torch now belongs to my brother, you’re not getting him.” Kokiri said and sat cross legged in the air.

“ _Well then, there’s your answer._ ” Six said and lied back down.

“Just because my brother couldn’t get all of it out of you doesn’t mean that I can’t either.” Kokiri said.

“ _What? You can read minds and force your way into one as well?_ ” Six asked sarcastically.

“Yes.” Kokiri answered.

Six propped himself up and looked at Kokiri. “ _You can?_ ” he asked.

“You know, there was once an old man who was just as powerful as you and thought very highly of himself. He also wanted to wage war to save his country from stagnation and Tyranny. He held all the important knowledge and key parts in his head and loved to hog special information. It made him feel important and have purpose. He also believed that the war could be won from a scared little abused boy by sacrificing him to the enemy. But they couldn’t win if he didn’t share so I entered his mind and grabbed everything he knew and he didn’t feel a thing. I know because while I was doing the search he was chuckling away, bragging about how his mind was too powerful to breach and that my efforts were useless, no matter how much I tried. Twenty seconds was all it took to raid his mind, find the pertinent information and relay it to the fighters. The look on his face was priceless. Total confusion and bewilderment.” Kokiri said.

“ _So, you can enter one’s mind without them knowing?_ ” Six asked.

“Yeah, although to be honest, physical contact is needed for such a thing. Mr. Spock from Star Trek gave me the idea, so credit goes to him.” Kokiri said and cracked his fingers. “So, do you want me to get the info the easy way or the hard way?” he asked.

“ _I’m a little afraid to ask about the hard way._ ” Six mumbled.

“Professor Snape's way, of course.” Kokiri shrugged.

“ _Eye contact?_ ” Six asked, understanding the Harry Potter reference.

Kokiri nodded.

Six lied back and thought about his three options. Tell them the truth, have his mind read or have it forced out of him. The kid said he was a drop away from becoming full human and once he did he’d be eaten by the brother. But then again, maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe once back in human form he could magic himself away and start his plan from scratch.

“I’m curious Afzel,” said Kokiri.

Six sat up and turned around to face the brother.

“What do you think when we say you’re about to become human? Do you imagine . . . . maybe regaining your human form? Human as in flesh and bones?” Kokiri asked.

“ _Yeah, what else could it mean?_ ” Six asked.

“We have a different definition with the word.” Kokiri smiled. “To us, 'Human' means greedy, selfishness, cowardice and puppetry. They can be found in a lot of action movies. The main villain, once he’s close to victory answers the protagonist’s questions of why they did what they did and the usual answer is always money and power. They’re usually corporate owners too and will always put business before family. There are very few major corporate owners who aren’t human.”

“ _So, if I do become human, I won’t be?_ ” Six asked, a little confused.

“Yep, you’d still be wood and wires on the outside but inside you’d be all human. As Toulon said when he spoke to Dr. Hess, it is the spirit that brings them to life. Humans have no such spirit. They wouldn’t be strong enough to hold. Neil Gallagher killed himself to gain immortality. Fear of death is another key ingredient to being human. But I despise humans, and that will is incorporated in my blood.” Kokiri grinned.

“ _Oh-h-h, and your blood was in the original formula that Sutekh had and I eventually stole._ ” Six said, and had just remembered something else. “ _And is now flowing inside me as we speak!_ ” he gasped and cursed loudly.

“Magical cores at opposite ends.” Kokiri mumbled, tapping the tips of his fingers together. “I’ve only seen that twice and the outcome of one was not pretty. She exploded into glittery, girly pink dust. Like a vampire from the twilight series.”

“ _Alright! Okay! I’ll tell you! Just don’t let me turn into glitter!_ ” Six pleaded. “ _The reason I want this war is because Sutekh is not the rightful owner of the power! He wasn’t the only one who fell from the stars, you know, there was another one._ ”

“We’re all ears.” Kokiri said.

“ _The second one that fell was my great-grandfather. He was chasing Sutekh because of the formula he had stolen. He said the formula belonged to a friend of his. That it was specially made for my great-grandmother and it was the last one in stock. Sutekh thought that with the formula he could rule a simple world. But then he had gained followers and the formula was broken down to a basic component where a simpler one could be made. One that could let us control others and gain their loyalty by default with their major organs. After a few centuries, it was diluted from the original and the one I gave Andre Toulon was the one that was being used. Sutekh had diluted the formula because the original wasn’t giving him a compliant army. The result was a revolutionary war that had killed my father and mother, thus winning him the war. For the past 3080 years I’ve been trying to build an army of my own, and with the idea of bringing inanimate to life; it was the best deal I could think of._ ” Six finished.

“So, all this planning, this hording and waiting was just so you could avenge your parents from a war they chose to fight in, knowing they would most likely die?” Kokiri asked after a moment of silence.

“ _Yes, that’s what any child would do. Wouldn’t you want to avenge your parents?_ ” Six asked.

“I hate my parents. I’ve been trying to kill my mother on a yearly basis, she calls it tea time, and my father? I just robbed him of everything he owns.” Kokiri smiled.

Six Shooter was stunned and shocked. “ _You tried to kill your own mother?_ ” he asked.

“Yeah, they weren’t my mom and dad. Mother left me to die after giving birth and father was hardly ever around and always abusive whenever he was. My real Mom and Dad, the people who raised me, are already dead.” Kokiri said. “But now, my mother is just a business partner and my father is a dead beat with no job, no wife, no children, no nothing. And I intend to keep it that way.”

“ _Okay, you’re the dangerous one._ ” Six said and stood up.

“Yes, I am. But the only time you truly have to fear me is when my brother says so, as a recent boyfriend of his found out. He had me rip out his heart and toy with his mind.” Kokiri said. “And said to make sure it was a very painful one.” he whispered, smirking.

“ _So he died a very painful death?_ ” Six asked.

“Who said he died? I didn’t kill him. Just removed his love and erased some memories, that’s all.” Kokiri said and stood on his feet and stretched. “Though you should count yourself lucky. You’re now three drops away from becoming human.” he said and picked up the mini trunk and bags of seeds and placing them back on the hover pad. “If you don’t lower your humanity level, my magic is going to clash with yours.” he added and left the room.

.

.


	38. They Are Coming

.

“ _The brother has some major issues with his parents, don’t you think?_ ” Tunneler asked.

They had been watching the holo-screen that had just suddenly come up. Six Shooter certainly had a plan in mind and his excuse for causing war, but forcing Torch to participate against his will was not cool.

“ _Obviously._ ” Blade said, still somewhat stunned by the fact that the brother had admitted to attempted murder on his own mother and had just robbed his father out of the family.

“ _Still, makes you wonder why he has such compassion for his brother, huh?_ ” Jester asked. “ _How do you think the kid feels about his own brother trying to his kill their mother on a yearly basis?_ ”

“Oh, we’re not brothers in that way. We’re blood brothers. Kind of like how you guys are brothers.” the kid answered behind them.

The puppets turned around, seeing him carrying Torch in a bundle like a baby.

“Kegs and I have different parents and we have different backgrounds. I come from a migratory family group from the Earth Tribe from the Elemental Kingdom. My grandfather is the chief and my father is a medicine man. I do have an actual older brother, but we don’t talk.” Chug said, passing through the room and into another conjoined room, hidden of course.

“ _What is it with the kid and his hidden rooms?!_ ” Tunneler grounded out. “ _How many other additions has he made to the hotel without changing its floor plans?!_ ” he nearly screamed. He liked to rationalize everything and a hidden room where there shouldn’t be one was not rational.

“ _Why are you freaking out?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _He’s like to rationalize things._ ” Pinhead answered.

“ _Really? How did he rationalize being brought back to life in a puppet’s body?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _It took me a while to get used to. I’m going back to bed._ ” Tunneler said and left.

Pinhead stretched and also declared of going back to bed. They weren’t allowed to be out of bed for more than half an hour. 

“ _Well, I’ve been cleared, so what do you want to do?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Well, we can’t leave the room, they have a whole electronic library in the corner--_ ” Blade said.

“ _Library._ ” Jester said and dragged Blade over to the corner.

**************************  
Chug placed his bundled Torch on a work table carefully. Torch had gotten very sick that his gears were starting to make noise and his breathing was sounding like metal grating against each other.

“Torch, we’re gonna do another scan, OK? It won’t hurt.” he said softly.

Torch groaned in response and was gently pushed down onto the blanket he was wrapped in. His flame was feeling low and so was he. His master had checked his fuel tanks, refueling the empty ones, oiled some of his gears and cleaned some rust off others. His clothes were removed and thrown into a wash, he was currently wearing some cotton-wool cow-patterned pajamas with little black booties.

Master said it was to keep him warm since the wool would help in-sul-late his body heat. Master had also taken his flamethrower arm off to check for repairs and replaced some screws that had almost melted beyond repair. Master said he was going to give him a new body anyway so he didn’t need it anymore. But the removal of his old body had made his sickness worse.

Master said he needed to go back in it because he was short on some supplies for his new body.

“ _M. . M. . Boss?_ ”

“Yes, my wee bairn?” Chug replied.

“ _How about some parts from some of the other animals? Would that work til you got what you needed?_ ” Torch asked.

“I was thinking the same thing. But that would mean grafting some organic material onto you and it has to be the same kind your brains were extracted from otherwise you could get worse from all the biological difficulties.” Chug said, soothing Torch’s stomach, thinking about how to make Torch better. “Torch, I’m sorry, but you have to go back in your body for now.” he said, picking him up and giving him a tight hug.

“ _Okay._ ”  
********************

Six Shooter had finished up feeding all the plants in the garden room and was now just floating around the place. He’d gotten used to controlling the hover pad and was thinking about what the brother had said. His parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had all fought against Sutekh to reclaim the formula. Now he was trying to build up an army of living puppets to do the same, but did he really have to?

The brother had told him and the others that the kid was the original brewer of the formula and the formula’s original purpose was meant as a healing potion amongst cyborgs. If only he knew what cyborg really were and what they looked like then maybe he would believe the two brothers. His other mundane thoughts was on figuring out how to get out of this room because it was starting to get hot.

********************  
Kokiri Yusaga was down by the cliff bank where he had found Jester’s hat and was sitting mid-air, meditating. He was trying to focus on a specific past time before Blade and Jester had to fight for their lives against Chug’s scorpions and spiders and what that demon thing had to do with it.

The little snippets he had gathered from Blade was enough to tell him that the arachnids had been taken over for a brief spell and attacked the Toulons. They had overcome the possession and had taken out the demon before terminating themselves but Blade and Jester were long gone before that.

The last thing he collected was that Blade had gotten separated from Jester at some point, before he was disturbed by a tingle in his senses. Kokiri snuck into the sensation to see where it was coming from and where it was going to build up, but the source was too far. Its destination however was very close.  
He focused on the build up and looked over at the hotel.

“Kid, we’re having company.” he said into his chrome steel watch and headed back to the hotel.  
***********************

Chug had just finished putting in the last screws on Torch when he got a message from his brother on his watch.

Company was arriving and he had sent a message to his security to see if everything was in place. There were last minute checks and places but everything was good.

“Ok, Torch, we’ve got some company coming and they’re not going to be friendly. You’re still too sick for any battle so you and a couple of your brothers are going back to my room, ok? You should be safe there.”

“ _No, we protect._ ” Torch said and coughed.

“Parents do the protecting, my wee bairn, not the other way around. Unless it’s senility.” Chug smiled and wrapped Torch in the blanket and carried him back to his attic room, sending for Pinhead and Tunneler as well.

“Blade, Jester, if you guys want a part of the action and not sit around head down to the smoke room and lure the bait to the kitchens. That place has the better security, just try not to get in the Rexes way, savvy?”

“ _No worries on that, kid, but Jester stays with the others, savvy?_ ” Blade asked and they followed the kid to the door.

“Alright, but he gets to watch. Oh, and don’t use the vents they’re booby-trapped.” Chug added, picking Jester up and left the room, leaving the door open.

.

.


	39. First Round

.

Blade headed down to the smoke room and peeked around the doorway to see the pyramid that the totems use for transport glowing like a beacon. He was trying to think up of a few ways to lure the creatures to the kitchens. He didn’t think they would just see him and automatically go after him, that would be basic instinct.

And then there was the idea of them possibly having magic.

‘ _I can’t defend myself against magic! What the hell was that kid thinking? What the hell was I thinking when I agreed on this suicide mission?!_ ’ he thought and banged his head against the wall for his eager stupidity.

He startled when he heard the glass pyramid break and then the familiar screeching of the totems. He peeked around the doorway and saw that three of them had already emerged and had spotted him and were now after him.

“ _Basic instinct it is._ ” he muttered to himself and ran towards the kitchens.

As soon as he had passed the doorway he was snatched up in the air by a scorpion’s tail. He watched as the three totems ran in and one was already captured by falling through a quick trap door. The other two stopped in their tracks to see what had happened to their comrade but he was nowhere.

They looked ahead when they heard a hissing sound and a shadow run by and ran towards it. The roar of the Rexes and the totems’ screeches and the sound of bones being crunched were the last things heard before Blade was let down. The scorpion tugged on his shoulder and headed down the same direction as the totems.

Blade followed, very relieved that the Rexes were on their side, and shuddered when he saw how bloody the floor was. He could see a Rex’s shadow tearing away at the totem it was eating and visibly shivered when it tore off a large piece and swallowed it whole, crunching bones as it did so.

He tugged at his shirt with his hook and continued to follow the scorpion. ‘ _Note to self, never get on the Rexes’ wrong side._ ’ he thought.

The scorpion stopped at a blank wall and used its tail to tap at it three times. A pair of elevator doors opened up with a ‘ding’ and they entered. Blade couldn’t help but agree with Tunneler’s assumption about the kid and his many hidden doors and rooms.

The descent was fairly quick, Blade could have sworn his feet left the floor for a few seconds when they started, but in no time at all, they had entered the lower laboratory where he and Jester were first brought by the Rexes. The holo-screen the kid often uses was brought up and he could see that four more totems had come through and were searching the hotel.

The four creatures stayed together and approached one of the vents. Two had pulled it off after two tugs and were immediately electrocuted before being sucked down the vent and the vent closed off.

The other two tried to open it again but it was shut tight. Then they had approached the elevator and tried to open the door but it was crammed shut thanks to it being broken. They left that and headed somewhere else. Blade looked at the map that was tracking them and found that they were approaching another room. This room had spiders all over the place and the screen had laid out where their traps were.

He studied the map, memorizing each trap’s location when a message from the kid popped up. He asked if Blade would like to be bait again and Blade nodded. The scorpion typed his response and they headed to a different elevator.

Blade couldn’t help but feel excited.

.

Three Hours Later. . . .

Blade ran down another hall, laughing as another totem chased after him. He was starting to like this whole baiting trick. So far, twenty totems had been captured and by some of the most ridiculous traps he’s ever seen. He wouldn’t have thought of using jello as a trap, nor bread dough, cookie dough or potato chips for any use but food.

One totem had fallen through a trap door and was plunged into a canister of red jello and was immediately immobilized. Bread and cookie dough were catapulted to two others, and the potato chips served as a warning to a pair of scorpions that had stung it. Others were electrocuted, clearing up some of the vents, more were instantly frozen by a product called liquid nitrogen, and some were ensnared in webs, nets and glass containers and all were hauled down to the lower labs.  
This was the last one.

He ran into a vent and had sent out a sonar pulse to see if there were any surprises. Learning how to use his magic during the whole ordeal was a little troubling because he still needed to concentrate to send out a pulse in the first place, until he figured out a shortcut. As long as he believed his core was still there and imagined every pulse he made as a calm heart beating steadily, there would be a constant subtle vibe echoing from him and it would relay images back to him in his head.

The vent was clear save for a webbed trap. He heard the totem screeching and made as much noise as possible and headed down towards the trap. Upon reaching the webs he tugged on it five times before a spider appeared and let him pass.

He watched as the totem came up and charged, getting caught in the web and wrapping itself up before being attacked by several little black spiders, all stinging, biting and making the wrappings tighter before they feasted.

Blade backed up and headed back to another sector to see if there were any more totems, but they had all been captured and the negative energy that had built up for their transport had died down.

“ _That was . . . surprisingly fun._ ” he said, knowing Jester was watching. “ _I wonder what else they can do?_ ”

A black emperor scorpion had showed up and tapped his hat, getting his attention and motioned for him to follow. It led him to a small brown megalograptus ride, big enough for him to ride like a horse. He climbed on and was floated away towards an open window and then up to the attic room.

The window opened and he was let in and the meg landed on the work desk, near Jester, with ease.

“ _That looked like so much fun. I want to try next time._ ” Jester said and spun his head at the over-excitement he was feeling.

“Well, if you guys want part of the next action, you’re gonna have to learn a few things.” Chug said, bringing out a toy pirate chest, opened it and brought out a martial arts practice dummy that was just their size. “First lessons would be on how you can protect yourselves by yourselves.”

A loud hawk screech was heard and a red-tailed hawk soared in and landed on a bedpost, followed by another screech and a little light brown winged monkey flew in and landed on the other post.

“Meet your teachers, Stix (points at monkey) and Abby (points at hawk).”

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stix is named after 'STYX' (and the stick he always carries on his person), and Abby is named after the 'ABBA'. Both are band names.


	40. Stuff's Happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> (Leech Woman N/A due being thrown in an iron stove and burned alive.)

.

Jester limped into the attic room where they were staying. He had just finished another martial arts session with a winged monkey named Stix who got his name from the sticks he carried; and from the band STYX.

It had been almost a month since the monkey and red-tailed hawk (that was Blade’s teacher) arrived. The first day was spent focusing on meditation, then he was told to rest for the next five hours for a complete physical workout. Jester had collapsed after a straight hour of running non-stop on a treadmill and was zipped across the room, crashing into the wall across.

Why had he agreed to this again? . . . Oh yeah, because his computer-version looked awesome with the martial art skills. The kid had said he’d make him a special weapon all his own if he agreed completely to their teachings. Blade had agreed so that Jester wouldn’t get too hurt during this training, and because his computer version looked awesome as well. Especially when the model showed his knife hand could be switch-able to a shiny hematite hand to his stainless steel blade.

He pointed at the screen and demanded to have it at once. The kid used it as a bargaining chip to get Blade to more agreeable terms with their training. In return, Blade had bargained that they wouldn’t be too hard on Jester lest his light frame be splintered or get broken.

Jester didn’t like it when Blade would get so overprotective when it came to his light build, but with a martial arts demonstration from both of their teachers breaking five inches of solid wood in half and then broke those halves in half. He could easily be broken to pieces if he wasn’t careful. 

That was why Stix was his teacher. He was teaching him how to fight with a stick and not use too much of his own physical strength for a fight.

He reached his bed and collapsed onto it, falling asleep instantly.

.

Blade had finished his training for the day and was meditating in the garden room. Six had been found and relocated to the attic room, but he was still on watch. Pinhead and Tunneler still had some recuperating to do before they could be cleared.

He had a rough time at first and nearly blew his deal off when Jester had slipped on the treadmill and was flung across the room, crashing into the wall. He would have stopped his treadmill and checked on him if he wasn’t being watched, and if he had a proper hand.

Jester had gotten back up and was fine, giggling about wanting to do it again, but one look at Blade and he decided not to. He was excused from the treadmill and went on to focusing on his balance. Blade joined him a few minutes later, finding Jester standing on one foot on top of a pillar with a couple of DVD covers on his head. He wasn’t standing straight either, he was balanced in a horizontal position, his arms and other leg stretched out to help with the balance. Blade was ready to go into a panic when he saw there were pins beneath Jester to help with the focus.

With him worrying so much about Jester the kid, the monkey and the hawk all agreed to train them separately. He knew Jester preferred it that way too, not missing the little relieved slump in his shoulders.

He figured it was probably for the best anyways, he wasn’t getting any training done himself with his constant worry. Jester had taken care of himself before he was even created, he really should back off anyway.

“I’m sure Jester’s fine.”

Blade looked to his left and found is mentor floating beside him. He himself was being held in the air with a hover pad, sitting down cross-legged and fully clothed again. He thanked his lucky stars that the coat had kept him covered the whole time he was running around, luring the totems into traps.

“You’re just like me when it comes to my own little brother.” Kokiri smiled. “I used to fuss over him like that as well. But soon you’ll learn. You just need to believe in him, as he does in you.”

“ _Now you’re going to go all mystic on me?_ ” Blade smirked, turning his head back and closing his eyes again. Debating was fun.

“Very Eastern, I agree, but they do make a point. Now, how would you like to learn how to use your pulse into a sonic boom?” Kokiri asked, peeking at Blade through his glasses.

“ _Sounds good and tempting. . . . How?_ ” Blade asked.

“The same steps I taught you when you first learned, except instead of a subtle ripple, put as much energy in the ball and set it off like a cannon. But before you do that, maybe we should head outside. The plants won’t like you if you damage them.” Kokiri said and grabbed Blade off the hover pad and left the room to the cliff bank.

“Now, focus your energy on the ball.”

Blade focused on the image and imagined a pale blue river flowing from him to the ball, gathering up.

“To make it effective, you just have to imagine a narrow path in front of you and squeeze all the energy down it in a single push.”

“ _How do you push?_ ” Blade asked.

“Well, that part is up to you. Is it a cannon? Is it a rifle? Is it a laser beam shooting down the hallway?” Kokiri questioned. “This part is on your own creativity.”

“ _I get that, but how do you push? How do you push your sonic boom?_ ” Blade asked and lost his focus at a sudden funny thought and started laughing.

“If you were thinking of a lavatory, I was thinking the same thing.” Kokiri chuckled.

Blade just laughed harder. “ _Okay, back to the matter. How do you do it?_ ” he asked.

“I just focus on wanting to protect my brother. I release my sonic through my hands.” Kokiri demonstrated by sending a low boom across the field of overgrowth, bending their stems from the energy. “It doesn’t always have to be both hands. Some cross their arms in an ‘X’ for shielding.”

“ _It’s all very good but . . ._ ” Blade said.

Kokiri thought a moment. “How about a big blue button? You need to fire the cannon, why not just hit . . . enter?” he suggested.

“ _A button? OK, I can try that._ ” Blade said and turned to face the large field and focused on his energy fueling the blue ball, then the ball turning into a button with big OK letters on it and pressed down on it hard. He heard a low boom and opened his eyes just in time to see the weeds bend as if a gust of wind had suddenly picked up.

“Not bad. A good three feet for a first timer.” Kokiri said and lifted him up with his magic. “Now let’s teach you how to sense other magicals.”

“ _Other magicals? How many are there in the world?_ ” Blade asked, crossing his legs.

“Thousands, hundreds of thousands. We’ve transported some who were traditionalists to other uninhabited planets so that they could continue on in the ancient ways. There used to be millions before that. We’ve had a recent transport from Britain, they were getting ready for a war. A salvation from stagnation, but the one who wanted to save that world negotiated with Chugs and we made a deal, after he was hit with several rolled up newspapers, Sunday Edition. He agreed to gather his followers and leave the world for a new one. Some of the opposing army went along with them and they’ve been prospering.” Kokiri answered and lied back, pulling Blade into a similar position, but he didn’t mind.

Ever since that night when the brother first gave him magic they’ve been having little get together's to just talk, meditate, bicker and debate. Occasionally they would just sit outside and watch the moon rise, the stars coming out as the sun set or just listen to the ocean.

It helped him with his meditation and focus on the martial arts when he had the time. Most times he just slept the day away as his body and mind rested from such harsh training.

This time they were watching the stars, a crescent moon high in the sky and the ocean crashing on the shore below. Soon enough the crickets started chirping and he found himself being gently lowered to the ground.

“To sense other magicals you first have to feel natural magic.” Kokiri said. “Normally one would have to be in their bares for this, but as you are strongly against being bare, we’ve got to find another way. Do you remember how to bind your touch to your core?” he asked.

“ _Yeah._ ” Blade answered.

“Well, do that, but send it through your IV cord and imagine the cord branching out like veins connecting to your little wooden body.”

Blade closed his eyes, found his core and took a strand to his IV cord and let it flow through and then branching out like the brother said and a few seconds later, he could feel the grass in the back of his head. “ _The grass under my head._ ” he said.

“Now, add it to your coat. The coat will sense you, but don’t let it startle you. It is a part of you.”

Blade pictured his coat and imagined his core bathing in every thread and letting the coat surround and embrace him. Now he could feel the grass under his back, his legs, his boots, even his knife and hook. “ _I can feel the grass._ ” he breathed. “ _I haven’t felt the grass in ages._ ”

He let the cool grass touch every nerve, every fabric, every thread on his person and the feeling of sensation engulfed him.

“See their colors.” Kokiri whispered.

Blade imagined green grass and bright green grass appeared in his black void. But he remembered it was dark, there were stars out, the crescent moon and the ocean crashing below the cliff and it all appeared in his vision.

“Now that you can see the world in your black void, send out a pulse.” Kokiri said.

Blade sent out a pulse and a soft gong-like ring echoed next to him on his left. He sent it out again and Kokiri appeared as a white silhouette.

“Can you see me?” Kokiri asked.

“ _Yes, but you’re just a white shadow._ ” Blade answered.

“That’s because all six of me are working together.” Kokiri said. “Which core do you want to see?” he asked.

Blade thought a moment and asked for Water. His pulse picked up an ocean blue core swirling like a watery ball. Then he asked for Earth and an emerald green core showed up, swirling like leaves caught in a whirlwind. Air was like a storm, complete with thunder and lightning, but Fire was scary. He could see that the core was bright red and shone through thick clouds that swirled like a tornado and wobbled a bit. He could even feel the heat coming off it.

“The fire side is the most powerful one, and it takes a lot of focus to keep it under control. Now, there’s two more.” Kokiri said.

“ _Uh, Light and Dark?_ ” Blade asked.

“Here’s the Light.” Kokiri said. The core was an almost white-blue crystal ball, swirling slowly and felt cold as ice, he shivered.

“ _Why is it so cold?_ ” Blade asked.

“That’s a whole different philosophy. My Dark core is one you don’t want to get too near to. It reeks of poison and death and a little insanity.” Kokiri said and sat up, breaking their connection. “The energy that brought the totems is almost strong enough to send another troop through. It’ll be in a few days, but you guys aren’t gonna take part just yet.”

“ _Why? That was the whole reason Jester got into the program in the first place._ ” Blade said, standing up.

“Because these next traps are not for you. They’re a lot more dangerous and are more equipped for the arachnids.”

“ _I’ve worked with the arachnids on a few runs, I think I can handle it._ ” Blade said.

“Not when the traps involve a heavily concentrated acid. This troop is going to be killed, not captured and contained. Come on, let’s head back to the hotel.” Kokiri said and picked him up. “Besides, it’ll give the kid some time to work on that new arm you wanted and you have to be there for the whole caball of measurements, posing, modelling---”

“ _Good God, no! Not another experiment!_ ” Blade wailed, making Kokiri laugh.

.

Torch had woken from another nap and was finally feeling better. It had been weeks since he had fallen sick. Master had been very worried and he was worried about Master facing the totems by himself. But Master didn’t face them by himself, he didn’t even leave the room. He pulled up the pink video ghost screen and watched Blade run around, making the totems chase him into traps. Master had been typing away on the screen, setting off traps, guiding Blade to other locations and caught all the totems by himself without ever leaving the room.

Pinhead, Tunneler and Jester were all watching Blade on the screen, but Master was the one doing most of the work. When they were done Blade came back through the window on a small scorpion-thing. Master had repeatedly told him what it was called and never got mad when he forgot, but still. Blade came in and then a mean looking bird and then a monkey with wings like the mean bird came in.

Master called them teachers and gave them to Blade and Jester. Master still looked after him even though he was super busy, but he always took time off to look after him, give him some liquid called me . . med . . . med-di-cine. It was suppose to help bring his fever down. His flame still felt low even though Master said a fever was a high temperature, but his flame felt low.

Pinhead and Tunneler had gotten better and were in classes with Jester with the mean bird and monkey. The brother had stopped by before that to collect something from them that they didn’t want. Sometimes Blade would go off with him and other times he would go with the others with mean bird and monkey.

The totems had struck again but the others didn’t go after them. Master didn’t bring the screen up to watch either. He worked on Blade’s knife arm. It didn’t take long and soon Blade had a new shiny hand that he could switch back to his blade.

Six Shooter had finally showed up and was also sent with the others to class. Six seemed a little worried when he asked about Torch and Master had said he was still sick, but Torch didn’t understand. Six didn’t like Torch. He had said he would be glad to be rid of him and wouldn’t miss him.

Torch curled up under the blankets he was under and fell back asleep, wishing for his master to come and hold and sing to him.

.

Chug crawled into his bed, snuggling up to his wee bairn. He was getting really worried about Torch when all he did was sleep, but now that his temperature was starting to go down after six weeks, he was hoping for the better. Torch was like a child in many ways. His short memory, his tendency to throw tantrums when he didn’t get his way, his incapacity to read properly and never wanted him far away.

Being the last born and the youngest of a large family with little memory of your parents tends to make one a little hot-headed. He knew this because he was just like that. He was the last one born in his family, his mother died when he was very young and both of his parents and grandfather weren’t around much when he met Kokiri and was courted off to the Academy after that.

Torch was the same way. The youngest, no memories of his parents, and shunned by his own brothers. Well, there was the only difference.

Torch had woken when he brought him into a little hug and snuggled up to him. 

“How are you feeling?” Chug whispered.

“ _A li’l bet’r._ ” Torch mumbled.

“How much better?” Chug asked, tucking the blankets around Torch.

“ _Bet’r._ ” Torch sighed. “ _Song, es-pease?_ ”

“’Baby Mine’?” Chug smiled, Torch nodded and Chug started singing.

.

Six Shooter could feel something about him was off. Ever since he came back from the garden room he’d been feeling off. Not sick-wise, he felt fine, but there was . . . . something. When he arrived at the attic room and saw the kid working at his desk he asked about Torch and how he was fairing. Torch had been sick for several weeks now and has yet to get better. 

Six thought about that and became worried. Not just because he might lose his general but because, despite having animal brains as his life force, Torch was their baby brother. He found that part confusing the most. He didn’t really care about Torch as a person, just as his general. But the brothers had bothered him about his reasons for his war and how pointless it really was.

Why fight a thief when he could befriend the original brewer himself? His great-grandparents had passed on and his parents and grandparents from a war they had designed. So what was he really fighting for? 

After his return and asking about Torch, he was told to take some class with Jester, Pinhead and Tunneler with two new additions of the household: A red-tailed hawk and a winged monkey. The class turned out to be a martial arts class and he had quickly learned that it wasn’t the best idea to make fun of the monkey because he got his little wooden cowboy ass handed to him five times. Then the hawk had a turn.

For a meat-eating flying overgrown chicken, that bird was sure mean. He was confined to the bed on his stomach for three days after that.

Then as he calmed down and apologized to the teachers, he was allowed some advanced classes because of his six arms. Jester was the one who excelled in the sport though and was soon granted two katanas, a dowel acting as a Bo staff and some little shiny stars.

Six also later found out from the brother that Pinhead and Tunneler had turned down their magical cores. The excess particles that had gathered would make them sick and the brother would gather it from them, putting the magic with his own core.

“ _WHY?!_ ” he demanded of the two. “ _Do you have any idea of how useful magic can be?! How much easier your lives could have been?!_ ”

“ _We saw._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _We don’t like nor want._ ” Pinhead said and both walked past him to continue their class.

Pinhead had learned a few new wrestling techniques and merged some martial arts with it. But he wanted to learn engineering and so started taking classes with the kid to learn about computers, doo-hickeys and what-nots. Tunneler and Jester had volunteered for some medical training once their teachers had left, but Blade was a whole ‘nother matter.

He was hardly at any of the classes, spending most of his time with the brother, and when the totems had made another attack he was sent to the kid for another surgery that he requested and had gotten a new hand in two hours. The hand was able to switch back into his blade whenever he wanted so he wasn’t all that different.

And Torch was all alone. . . . Perhaps now was the time to get at him.

He took a step towards the area where the kid kept disappearing, assuming that he kept Torch in a separate secure area away from the others. EMFs be damned, he was a Sorcerer. He had magic.

But . . . .

A sudden loud blaring, red flashing lights and a dozen spiders and scorpions surrounded him, lasers pointing at every surface of his body.

“ _I wasn’t going to do anything._ ” he said, putting all six arms in the air.

.

.


	41. ALA-A-A-R-R-R-R-M!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The brief paragraphs between each instances are all happening simultaneously - which is why they're all brief in the first place. :)

* * *

Jester was in the middle of reading a book he'd found in a library, a proper library, and accidentally tore the page he was turning when a loud siren blared out. The room went dark and red lights started flashing before an army of arachnids of all sizes scurried past him towards the attic room.

Pinhead was told to watch over Six should Six ever think about getting anywhere near Torch. The kid had said he was perfectly secured, but Six had magic and could probably bypass any security Six came across, but it seemed he'd been caught for now and Torch remained safe.

He just wondered what was the deal with all the arachnids, though. Surely the kid didn't need that many to protect one little child?

.

Blade was in the middle of focusing another sonic pulse (boom just made him laugh), when a loud siren went off and he lost his concentration and aim. His pulse was too strong and he blew away a wall in the green house, accidentally destroying some of the plants.

‘ _Ooh, I’m dead._ ’ he thought with a cringe. The plants he’d just blown away were both medicinal and culinary. ‘ _I’m so dead._ ’

.

Tunneler was downstairs working with a medical team when the siren went off and he thanked his stars that he was used to such loud noises, but it still startled him. He was in the middle of filling a syringe with some blue liquid and nearly pulled too hard, thus nearly popping the back of the syringe off and spilling the liquid everywhere.

A yellow desert scorpion tapped his shoulder and pointed at the syringe he was still holding. He handed it over and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what Six had done to set off the alarm.

.

Pinhead was working on a simple motor for his engineering class that had blown up in his face when the siren went off. He wiped his face and looked over to where Torch was hidden away and saw Six was surrounded by scorpions, spiders and lasers.

He tried to remember where the switch was that would turn the siren off, but the room had gone dark, save the lights that surrounded Six. Even if they were plunged completely in the dark, the arachnids would still find Six with their night visions, neural scans, his body structure and his magical core.

He was little confused about how cores could be read, but the kid explained that magic was like electricity. The world was surrounded by something called an Electro-Magnetic Field, EMF for short, and said that the boundary towards Torch’s room was set in a specific EM field that the slightest spark of magic could set it off. It was also set to Six in all other factors; his height, his weight, his neural patterns and his body structure. Torch was as secure as could be and Pinhead was quite impressed with the response time of the arachnids.

The kid was as protective of Torch the same way Blade was with Jester. He worried about Jester too. He was best friends with him in life and when they became puppets, but after Blade was created and brought to life Jester had started hanging out with him more often.

He didn’t mind though, it gave him the opportunity to know his older brother Tunneler more. Tunneler was slightly younger than Six, creation wise, but he also seemed to know Six quite well. As if he was there when Six was first created. But he never talked about it and he didn’t push the matter.

Ah, there’s the switch.

.

Chug was watching Torch sleep. He ran a temperature scan, sighing in relief when it’d gone down a few more degrees. Torch had said his flame was feeling low and was confused when he said he had a high temperature. Torch asked how that could be if his flame felt low. If his flame was his fire for his flamethrower, and fire meant heat, and a lot of heat should mean a lot of fire, right?

Torch didn’t understand that his high temperature was because his flame was low. He tried to figure out how to best explain it in a way that Torch would understand. He’d thought about using the stars and how they burned in space, but even that confused him when he mentally prepared for it. Then he thought about a fire’s color spectrum and how a blue fire meant it was hotter than a red fire. But then he’d need a coloring book to help Torch with figuring it all out and he didn’t have the time to make an educational coloring book for him, let alone spend the time teaching him.

He just couldn’t think properly when he was so tired. How was he to explain to Torch that his low flame was causing his high temperature? It’s not like he can boil it down to. . . . Boil. . . . Boiling water, a stove!

“A-ha!”

He got out of bed and headed towards the door, opened it and quickly closed it when he heard the siren blaring. He looked over at Torch to make sure he was still sleeping and slumped his shoulders in relief. He checked his watch to shut the alarm off remotely.

.

Pinhead was about to pull the switch when the alarm stopped, the red lights shut off and the regular ones came back on. He looked over at Six Shooter who still had all six arms held up in surrender and decided to leave the matter to the kid and go back to his studies.

.

Jester looked up when siren stopped and the lights came back on and then down at the page he was holding.

“ _Aw man! Now how am I gonna make a baking powder powered rocket?_ ” he grumbled and set the torn paper down to look around for some tape.

.

Blade was running down to the beach to ask the brother for help about the plants. The kid had warned him that if anything happened to his plants he’d be sitting through an hour’s worth of Barney the Dinosaur shows. And with the plants destroyed, it was guaranteed that he’d be in for a full night marathon.

.

Tunneler and the medical team didn’t even flinch when the siren stopped and the lights came back on. He figured the rodents were used to this sort of thing, having to work on a space ship while they’re in battle, so he paid no mind to the matter either. Whatever it was that Six had done, the two brothers would take care of it. Torch was in the best care.

.

Six Shooter didn’t move a muscle when the siren stopped and the lights came back on. He didn’t move when the lasers disappeared and the arachnid army dispersed, nor when the kid came out and picked him up off the ground. He only moved when he was set behind bars and locked in.

“I told you you wouldn’t get a chance to get anywhere near Torch. He’s mine and I am not letting him go, savvy?” The kid growled at him and went back in his room to get Torch.

“ _But Sutekh has to be stopped. He’s letting the magical world fall into stagnation. We’ll be wiped out before we know it! Why won’t you help with your fellow magicals?_ ” Six asked.

“The magical world is not falling into stagnation, they’re leaving it! That’s why me and my brother are here. To take them to another place where they don’t have to share with the modern times and possibly start a war to turn things around. The last time that happened the world was almost obliterated so me and Kegs have been watching over the place. Taking those who are lost and giving them a home, those who are set in their ancient times taken to another place where it can stay. Why start a vengeful war over one little tiny bottle?” the kid asked and left the room with a bundled Torch sleeping in his arms.

Six saw that Torch was holding something in his arms that looked suspiciously like the kid. But the blankets Torch was in prevented him from seeing much detail.

He sat back on his haunches and looked at Pinhead. Pinhead was looking back but didn’t do anything. He just went back to tinkering with whatever it was he was tinkering with.

Six leaned back and let out a sigh. So the brothers had been taking magicals to a refuge, have they? Did they rescue the ones from Great Britain? He’d been trying to keep up with that world ever since its first magical war. From what he could remember, it was because some old fool believed himself to be the rightful ruler and demanded that he be praised and worshipped. He had saved them from a horrible fate once and for that they should be grateful he didn’t turn on them.

After a second war from his tyranny the old fool had once again defeated his rival and then proceeded to lie about it, saying that the rival was in fact an insane mass murderer hell-bent on destroying the world. But since he had saved their asses from such horrible lives, he should be given the highest honor and praises there was and he got it.

Just recently, that world was on the verge of another war, but something had happened that prevented it and the old man had disappeared. It was back to its usual form, but it was still in danger of wiping itself out of existence. What were the brothers going to do about them?

.

.


	42. Blade and Kokiri

.

Kokiri was down at the beach again. Except he was actually in the water this time, letting some little fishies swim up to him and around his feet before he plunged in and attacked. It was only small game, craw fish and shellfish that he mostly caught. Then he spotted bigger game further out and dove in, swimming under its sight. He’d left his glasses on the shore with his shoes so has not to ruin the suede felt.

He swam gently, not making much ripples lest he alert his target. Once he was down and behind, he swam upwards with his arms poised to grab. His fingers each bearing 2 1/2 inch claws and reached out and snatched the large fish in them and then bit its head off. All while still under the water.

He put his prize in his mouth and swam to different waters, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

.

Blade had finally reached the beach and collapsed near the brother’s shoes, out of breath. Cursing when he saw the brother dive into the ocean and swim out. He shouted as loud as he could, both with his mouth and with his magic but the brother seemed preoccupied with his little hunt.

“ _Damn fox,_ ” he panted. “ _You had to go on a hunt now?_ ”

He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes against the sun and just listened to the ocean crashing against the shore, lulling him into a relaxed state. He sent out a little sonar with every crash, seeing it in his black world and unintentionally falling asleep.

.

Kokiri had turned into his blue fox form and munched away on his fish, wolfing large pieces down before he was spotted and had to fight for it or fend off annoying sea gulls. He had traveled further north, swimming with a couple pods of orcas along the way.

When he finished, he licked his chops, cleaned his paws and went on a light stroll down south along the shoreline, watching the sun set. He eventually sat down to rest and thought about his past. The ocean held a lot of memories for him. His uncle had raised him in the old family home until he was eight when the storm hit and sunk the mansion, taking the little sand-bar of an island with it.

He was shore bound when he met Chug for the first time, before they became brothers. His paternal grandparents were both from the Ocean Kingdom and he'd practically lived in the water.

He lied down and thought back the past few days. Blade had yet to claim he and his brothers a master, Torch was unofficially adopted by Chug, the totems had made yet another attack and the little Toulons never knew.

Jester had been excelling in the martial arts and was becoming more confident around the spiders and scorpions, as long as it was the little ones. Pinhead was going into mechanics and Tunneler into paramedics.

Those two didn’t surprise him one bit when they had turned down their magic cores. They seemed more down to earth than Blade or Six Shooter. Blade's magic, once it had accepted him as its master, had slowly grown from the excess particles. But then there was a sudden upsurge in it and he took him under his wing to help balance it. That was what all the meditations and practicals were for. He was teaching him how to utilize it to both his benefit and protection.

Six Shooter was another matter. He was still determined to make Torch his general for his army of living puppets. His human level had gone down a few notches, but he wasn’t getting anything done with his foolish attempts. Whoever this Sutekh person was, he was obviously important to Six’s past, and not just because he’d stolen the original elixir. Six still had something against this villain. Enough to still want to wage war.

His little snippets of the magical world going into stagnation was somewhat true. The magicals were going into stagnation, and because of their stubbornness and unwillingness to change, he and Chugs had had to come down and cart them off to a world where they could shut up and stop bitching.

Chug made the story sound better, but that was what was really happening. It was always, “Back in MY day this,” or “back in MY day that,”. Kokiri seriously wanted to just rip their heads off and stuff them up their back door. But they weren’t human enough and most were innocent. Chug had always told him to respect the elderly but it was hard to do so when the elderly didn’t even remember their own rebellious youth.

Kokiri had come up with their whiny solutions on accident when he abducted a family and planted them on another planet. Chug had found out about it and checked on the “poor family”. They thanked and praised them endlessly and only wished that the rest of their family could have joined. Kokiri protested loudly saying that his ship was NOT a taxi. Then the damn people had tried to pay their way in, and after that it was the rich and wealthy that started to complain and had deemed themselves insulted that they were not the first.

Kokiri had slipped in his control and pulverized the Heads of those so-called “noble houses”. He didn’t kill anybody, just went on a rampage. Snobs, they were as revolting as women.

He shivered and decided to head back to the hotel and see what everyone was up to. He seemed to recall that one of Chug’s securities had gone off and then there was a loud boom in the green house.

.

Blade had woken up when a wave had crashed on him and pulled him away from the shore a bit. He sat up and sputtered when another waved crashed down on him and pulled him further. He got up and ran further inland, he did not scramble away in a panic. (He totally did.)

He shivered and hugged himself for warmth, very glad that he had a hand now to do so. He looked around and noticed that it was night time. He’d slept all day on the beach! He looked over at the shore but didn’t see the brother anywhere. He sent out a pulse for a better search but the brother wasn’t there. 

A wave crashing and shuffling fur later had him staring straight ahead into the green eyes of a blue fox.

“ _About time! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting here?!_ ” he screamed. 

The fox walked up next to him before shaking its fur vigorously, making Blade even more wet.

“ _Stop it! I’m soaked enough as it is! I don’t want to catch cold and spend more time in bed._ ” Blade grumbled and took his hat off to shake the water off.

The fox lied down and dropped its head on him.

“ _Hey! Get off me!_ ” Blade grunted and tried to crawl out but only managed to bury himself deeper. “ _Look, the reason I wanted to see you is because I accidentally destroyed your brother’s plants._ ” he said, ditching the escape attempt.

The fox stood up and walked over the pair of shoes and glasses Blade was near and turned back into the brother, his three pointed tail disappearing completely. He put the shoes on and picked up the glasses, putting back on his face. He strode over to Blade and picked him up, gathering all the water from him and adding every drop to himself.

“All dry.” he said and let Blade float by his side as they headed back to the hotel.

“ _Did you not just hear what I said? I destroyed your brother’s plants! Now he’s gonna make me watch a full Barney marathon!_ ” Blade nearly shouted.

“Yes, I heard you. But if you explain why you destroyed them he might let you off.” Kokiri said.

“ _Really? You swear?_ ” Blade asked, holding out his hand.

“I swear. It’s not like it’s anything major anyway. He’s got a dozen green houses. What’s the loss?” Kokiri shrugged.

“ _Medicinal and culinary plants is the loss._ ” Blade answered.

“What part of the wall?” Kokiri asked.

“ _The part that was facing the ocean, of course._ ” Blade answered in a snit.

“Oh, well, not to worry. If the plants are still green when we get there we just need to re-pot them. No harm done.” Kokiri said.

“ _I blew up the wall this afternoon!_ ” Blade shouted.

“You’re still in the safe zone, don’t worry so much.” Kokiri said and spotted the broken wall of the green house. “Blimey, you did a number didn’t you?” he chuckled.

“ _I fail to see the humor._ ” Blade grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Seriously, you worry too much.” Kokiri said and with a wave of his hand the wall was repaired, the plants back in their repaired pots and watered. “One of these days when I know your core can handle the stress, I’m gonna teach you how to fix things.” he said and they headed towards the lounge room.

.

.


	43. Torch

.

Torch woke up and was feeling lots better than before. He sat up and looked around for Master and saw him standing by the stove, stirring something in a pot. An unexpected cough caught Master's attention. Master's kind, warm smile always made him feel all toasty on his inside. 

“Morning, my wee bairn. How are you feeling today?” Chug asked, taking a thermometer out of his pocket and stuck it under Torch’s armpit to take his temperature.

“ _Better._ ” Torch answered.

“You sound better.” Chug smiled and removed the thermometer. “Your temperature’s gone down as well. That is very good.” Chug placed the thermometer in a plastic container and put it in his hat. “Now, I brought you here because I wanted to show you something. Do you remember asking me why you had a high temperature but your flame felt low?” Chug asked.

Torch nodded.

“Well, here’s an example. You see the fire burning under the pot?” Chug asked, pointing at the pot.

Torch nodded. “ _Uh-huh._ ”

“Well, it’s at a normal burn now. You see the colors yellow, orange, red and blue is at the bottom?”

“ _Uh-huh,_ ”

“Blue is on the bottom of the flame because that is where it is the hottest. Keep watching the flame when I turn the dial down.” Chug said and stood up and headed over to the stove.

Torch kept an eye on the flame like Master asked and brightened his eyes when all the other colors left until only the blue remained and the fire was really low. As low as he felt. He looked at Master who was waiting for him to put the things together. His brothers didn’t let him figure things out on his own, just ordered him around.

So Master said the blue was the hottest part of the fire and he turned the flame low. His own flame felt low but Master had said he had a high temperature. So a low flame and a high temperature . . . . “ _I’m . . . feeling . . . blue?_ ” Torch asked.

“There you go, my wee bairn.” Chug smiled and picked him up for a hug. “And yes, low flame, high temperature. My wee bairn, it does mean you’re feeling blue. But you feel better, yes?” Chug asked.

“ _Yes, lots better._ ” Torch answered and coughed a bit.

“You still have the coughs, but those are always the last things to go. So don’t you worry. I’m glad you’re getting better.” Chug said and stirred the pot once more before shutting it off and pouring its contents into a bowl.

Torch didn’t like the looks of it. It was red and there were thick, nasty, fleshy looking . . . stuff in it. Master wasn’t gonna eat that, was he? What if it was poison? Or maybe it was for one of the other scary-red-loud robots? . . . . No, it wasn’t. Master was gonna eat it!

“Torch, are you okay?” Chug asked, pulling a chair out and getting ready to sit down.

“ _What’s that?_ ” Torch asked, pointing at the bowl Master was holding.

“Oh, it’s ravioli. Here, let me get the can.” Chug said, setting the bowl down and went to a different part of the kitchen. “Don’t knock it over, please, I haven’t eaten yet.”

Torch looked at the bowl of red mush with the flesh bits. Master said it was food, but it didn’t look like food. Master said not to knock it over, but Torch’s protective instinct was kicking in. That mush was bad. But it was ingrained into his system to obey the Master.

Master returned and sat down with a red can that had big words on it and a picture that looked like the red nasty mush.

“Alright Torch, let’s see you pronounce this.” Chug said, putting the red can in front of Torch.

Torch looked at Master then at the red can then at the bowl of mush.

“Come on, say it with me. Rav . . .”

“ _R-Rav,_ ”

“vi,”

“ _vi,_ ”

“oli,”

“ _oli,_ ”

“Rav-vi-oli.”

“ _Rav-vi-oli._ ”

“Good, now put it all together.” Chug said.

“ _Rav-vi-oli. Rav-vi-oli-. . . . Ravi-oli, rav-i-oli., . . . Ra . . . Ravioli._ ”

“Good boy, Torch. Now, why do you look so concerned about it?” Chug asked, picking up a spoon and scooping out a big fleshy piece and putting it near his mouth.

Torch put his hand out to stop him but pulled it back and fiddled with his flamethrower.

“It’s fine, wee bairn, would you like me to run a scan over it first, just to be sure?” Chug asked.

Torch nodded.

Chug chuckled and ruffled his helmet before whipping out his travel-sized scanners and ran a scan. He brought up a holo-screen and let Torch do some of the readings with him.

“Do you know what the readings mean?” Chug asked.

Torch looked at the readings, one read Nutritional Value, one read sodium level, they were all about the food.

“ _Food bad._ ” Torch said, pointing at the bowl.

“It’s not bad, Torch.”

“ _It smells dead._ ”

“Yes, that would be the meat inside the ravioli.”

“ _No, bad like totems. Evil._ ”

“Hmm, evil food.” Chug placed the spoon back in the bowl and tapped its rim with his thumb. “Tell you what, I’ll call Kegs and have him test it for me. He can detect poison anywhere and won’t die from it. Will that make you feel better?”

Torch nodded. “ _Brother Lord._ ”

Chug subtly quirked an eyebrow at that and made a mental note to tell Kegs. He took his phone out of his pocket and typed away on it. “There, sent him a text, should be here any minute. So, what book do you want to read tonight?” he asked.

“ _Ooh! Moby! Moby!_ ” Torch exclaimed, waving his arms in excitement.

“You messaged me?” Kokiri asked, coming out of nowhere.

“Torch thinks this food’s bad, like 'totem' bad. Can you test it out? I’m hungry!” Chug asked, in a slight pleading tone.

Kokiri dipped a finger in the red mush and tasted it, licked his lips and dipped his finger back in a couple more times before guzzling the whole bowl down.

“Hey!” cried Chug.

“Mm,” Kokiri hummed, smacking and licking his lips. “Interesting flavor. Mint cyanide, strychnine, a dash of arsenic and a smidgen of (smacks lips) negative energy transport. .. . . . Is there more?”

“That was my lunch! Now what am I gonna eat?” Chug whined.

“Here, I went fishing earlier. Nearly drowned Blade in the process too, and he destroyed your medicinal garden in the green house but we fixed it.” Kokiri said, handing Chug a large half eaten fish.

“And by ‘we’ you mean you?” Chug smirked and tossed the fish in the air. “Well, as long as nothing’s too damaged. I need that medicine for their coolant. Can’t you find Blade some other quiet place to meditate?” he asked.

“The only places left for him to meditate are the beach and the cliff bank where I found Jester’s hat.” Kokiri said, handing a skewer to Chug.

Chug took the skewer and skewered the fish with it and walked over to Torch. “Could you?” he asked.

Torch, looked at the fish, the brother, then at Master. “ _Um, me torch fish?_ ” he asked.

“Yeah, light ‘em up, big boy.” Chug smiled.

Torch lit his flame and set his spray to a certain level so he wouldn’t burn Master on accident, but a sudden violent couch set it too high and he turned away to cover his cough like he’d seen Master done a few nights ago, but forgot to turn his flame off and accidentally set the fire alarms off in the kitchen, flooding the place with ice cold water.

“My bairn!” Chug dove over Torch to cover him from the water but was pushed aside by Kokiri who took on the full blast of Torch’s fire.

Chug went around a corner to shut off the water manually, lest his wee bairn’s illness get worse.

The water stopped and Chug hurried back to check on Torch. His flamethrower was still going and he could see Kegs’s hidden tail start to smoke as his fire side grew in strength.

Torch stopped coughing and shut his flame off and peeked up at Master out of slight fear. He’d nearly torched him. What if the brother would get mad at him, or worse? What if Master got mad at him?

“Torch, are you okay? You didn’t get wet?” Chug asked, wrapping him up in the blanket.

“Nope, made sure of that.” Kokiri said, steaming because he was wet and his fire side was heating up and wiped black soot off his face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go take a long shower.” he said and left the kitchen. “I’d like more of that poisoned soup, though!” he hollered.

“I’ll see if we have any!” Chug hollered back. He rubbed the blankets around Torch, making sure he was dry before bringing him back out. “Are you really Ok? You didn’t get wet?” he asked again, trying to get Torch to look at him.

Torch shook his head.

“Torch, I’m not mad. You did save me from being poisoned, yes? And you can’t control when a violent cough will sneak up and attack you. I’m not mad at you, my wee bairn. You couldn’t help yourself.” Chug said with a kind smile and picked Torch up into a hug when he sniffled. “Oh, it’s okay Torch. You’re okay. You’re okay.” He gently rocked him as Torch silently wept at almost hurting him.

“ _I bad._ ” Torch mumbled.

“No, you weren’t. You’re okay. Come on, we’ll cook the fish in my room where it’s safe, yeah?”

“ _I sorry. I bad._ ”

“Torch, it’s okay. Kegs isn’t mad at you either. I know he’s not. The only person who can really harm him is me, and I don’t like to. I’ve done it once and I don’t want to do it again. So, believe me when I say you are not bad and you don’t have to be sorry. All children get sick and it’s up to the parents to make sure they get better. Even if they do wind up getting hurt sometimes.” Chug said and bundled Torch up, gathered his soaked not-even-cooked-in-the-slightest fish and went back to the attic room.

.

.


	44. Speeding Up

.

Chug had a bit of a rough night trying to convince Torch that he wasn’t mad at him and that he’d still read to him. Torch finally settled when he agreed to lower his flamethrower’s firing range, refusing to outright shut it off in case Torch needed to defend himself and when he called him son.

Torch leaned back in his lap with his teddy-master and listened as he read Moby Dick to him, falling asleep in his lap.

Chug hadn’t slept properly in months, and with the new work in fixing up the old hotel as another house, looking after the little Toulons, keeping Six in check, collecting those totem things and looking after Torch when he’s sick was starting to grate on him. And this was just the top of his list of other things to do. He owned several charity houses, orphanages, restaurants and jewelry stores all around the world. 

He was also in Voluntary Law Enforcement that when he was called in would have to spend several nights without sleep checking his screens, reading through material, checking evidence with a fine tooth comb and help connect the dots and sometimes hit people with a rolled up newspaper to get things done.

The charity houses all did work in making food, toys and clothes for the poor towns and orphanages. The restaurants he would sometimes make a personal appearance and do a public demonstration, but the jewelry stores held his concentration the most. He’d make every piece of jewelry in his stores by hand. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, watches, rings, tiaras, movie premiere showcases. His diamonds were a popular choice because he took special care of his diamonds. He was very reluctant to part with them.

And then with his medical skills he eventually built some hospitals and would hire people from his brother’s ship and ones he’d personally trained to run them. He now had twelve buildings up and running.

And then there was his and his brother’s “Family Meetings” on mountains, in clubs, in a park, . . . . you get the idea. But Kegs took care of most of that stuff on his own.

Needless to say Chug was getting well-worn. He could feel an extreme case of exhaustion creeping up on him. He sent another message to Kokiri and curled up around Torch and fell asleep.

.

Kokiri pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked his messages.

[Going to sleep. Feeling ill. Torch worried I might be mad at him. Take over for a few days. Jester soft kung-fu] -C.

“ _Who is it?_ ” Blade asked, back in the green house and on the hover disc.

“Kid’s not feeling well and he put me in charge of things. So, you stay here and practice your pulse ranges for another three hours then head to bed for some rest. You’re going back to classes tomorrow with Jester.” Kokiri said and left the green house.

Blade watched him go, shrugged his shoulders and went back to meditating. He was told to practice his pulse range, so practice he shall. He sent out a pulse to keep an eye on the brother.

His mind’s eye showed the brother climbing through the lounge window where he had his operation for his new leg and where they watched the movie of the Space Totem things being captured. The brother walked past the piano, brushing softly against the keys, not making a sound. The brother walked past the kitchens, the dining room, the rooms and came to a door that led to a basement.

‘ _We have a basement?_ ’ he thought.

Kokiri opened the door to reveal a whole tropical sauna-like room, complete with a waterfall and a large pond.

Blade watched as Kokiri removed his shoes and glasses, placing them on a sea shell shelf and walk across the water. The water then began to gently circulate around him and then a bed formed. There was a lump on the bed that the brother walked over to and placed a hand on its head, bring up the covers and gently stroke the top of its head. Blade had tried to see who that was lying on the bed, but the brother’s affection gave the kid away.

The brother left after patting a smaller lump in the bed and the water returned to just that for a second before shifting to a room resembling a kitchen. The brother brought up screens on the walls, tapped away at some, scrolled through others and then . . . ordered a pizza?

‘What the devil is he up to?’ Blade thought and then felt a jolt through his pulse. The brother plucked the air as if plucking a hidden string for a trap a couple times, making Blade’s ears ring with ‘ping’ sound and forcing him to cut his vision off.

Blade covered his ears and shook his head. ‘ _What the hell was that?! What the devil did you do?!_ ’ he shouted in his head.

‘You have to get to bed now. You need the rest.’ he heard the brother’s voice say in his head. ‘Get a move on or I’ll ring you up again.’

Blade steered the hover disc towards the hotel and up to the attic room as fast as he could, entering through the open window, parking the disc on the desk and ran over to his bed, diving right in. ‘Alright, I’m in bed. Just don’t make me deaf.’ he grumbled in his head and threw himself down on his pillow. The brother chuckled in his head before everything went silent.

‘ _Show off._ ’ Blade thought with a grumble and placed his hat on a post and closed his eyes.

.

The next morning he was rudely woken by Jester who had jumped on his bed to wake him up.

“ _Wake up or you’re gonna be late for class!_ ” Jester sang playfully and yanked on Blade’s blankets to roll him out of them.

“ _Jester,_ ” Blade groaned sleepily and was helped up on his feet and his hat haphazardly placed on his head and dragged to martial arts classes.

“ _C’mon, you know the teachers don’t like lazy students._ ” Jester said and put Blade in line, tidied him up a bit and then stood next to him at full attention.

Blade heard a screech and jolted wide awake, took a quick look at Jester and also stood at attention. “ _I hate this class. The teachers don’t like me._ ” he hissed to Jester.

“ _Shoosh,_ ” came Jester’s reply and stiffened when the Hawk and winged monkey landed in front of them with a slam.

~ _Master Jester, you have been recommended for the soft kung-fu class. You may take your leave._ ~ the hawk said, opening a wing and allowing Jester to walk past them. Its voice reminiscent of the goat Seer from Kung-Fu panda 2.

Jester glanced at Blade with a nervous look. “ _But what about--_ ”

~ _Go!_ ~

Jester jumped and headed down between the two teachers. “ _Bye Blade._ ” Jester picked up his satchel and jogged down between the teachers.

‘ _Oh, this isn’t going to be good._ ’ Blade thought as he watched Jester run off and leave him all alone with the two mean, relentless, merciless bringers of pain in the ass teachers.

The two teachers looked down at Blade, Blade looked up and tried not to look . . . . uh, nervous. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t trembling, he wasn’t . . . ok, fine, he was and he blamed the whole thing on the brother.

Seven hours later . . . . 

Blade limped back to the attic room, his hand placed his lower back, his coat was smoking, his hat had a little flame sizzling along the brim, his new leg was throbbing, his other leg felt splintered and his face had soot all across and the edges of his hair were blackened.

Blade knocked on the door with his hook and was let in, he stood on the elevator disc and rode it up to the bookshelf that held his and Jester’s beds, got off the disc, limped to his bed and collapsed into a deep, dark, dreamless slumber.

.

Six Shooter was pacing his cell, trying to think up of a way to get to Torch. Torch had been locked away from the others due to his sickness and from him, but the sickness was the main concern. He had gotten sick like the rest of them, save himself, seven, going on eight weeks now. Whatever the hell was in that variant formula the kid gave them was sure hell messing with the original in Torch’s system. That much was obvious.

So it was simple. Tell Blade that Torch’s sickness was because the kid poisoned him and now they have to rescue him, but Six would do it alone, so as not to arouse suspicion to the two brothers about this rescue. It sounds so simple and would be so simple if he wasn’t trapped in this . . . . box.

He kicked a wall in frustration and was surprised when it fell over. He looked out into the attic room and cautiously reached out with a hand before chuckling and jumping out and headed over to Torch’s room. He stopped just before the border of red tape along the beige carpet and stared at the door.

‘ _Now, how to get past the security?_ ’ he thought and brought his upper arms up in thought while the second pair went behind his back and the third pair placed on his hips.

The first time he got busted he was about to use his magic. Maybe if he didn’t use any magic, no thought whatsoever of his magic or Torch and took a step past the red tape. . . . Nothing happened. He let out a breath of relief and walked over, keeping his mind clear. He got as far as the center between the door and the red tape when the alarm went off.

The whole room was doused in red light, the sirens going off at a high pitch and then he was surrounded by dozens of scorpions and spiders and lasers.

‘Argh, I was so close.’ he thought and put all six arms up in the air. The kid wasn’t the one putting him back in his cell this time. It was a large black scorpion with pincers that could crush his head like a walnut. He was hoisted up by the back collar of his shirt and placed in his cell by its tail. A spider and a small yellow desert scorpion were putting the fallen wall back up and drilling screws in to keep it up.

Six Shooter paced his cell, trying to think up of a way to get to Torch. . . .

.

.


	45. Day's Happening 4

.

Torch woke up from a nap that snuck up on him a few minutes after Brother Lord had visited an hour ago. This was the third time it happened. He was starting to think that Brother Lord was the one making him fall asleep. Whatever the case, it was making him feel lots better. Master had even said so, his temperature had gone down, his flame felt better.

He rolled over and shuffled out of the blankets that had been wrapped around him in a swaddle, slid down the bed gently and walked over to the door. Master had said he could start leaving the room now as long as he wasn’t alone.

Upon reaching the door, he waved at a large brown Goliath tarantula and it walked over to him. After exiting the room, he was soon followed by a large twelve inch long black emperor scorpion. They were his body guards and he didn’t mind having them. His brothers didn’t seem to mind either. Jester was even friendly with the scorpion.

He’d started attending classes with Blade and Pinhead in the martial arts, kickboxing and meditating. He still had that lingering cough that Master said would take a long time to lose but he was feeling whole lots better.

Brother Lord would sometimes take the classes with them and Blade would be happy about that because then the teachers wouldn’t be so mean to him. Torch and Master still had their secret project going in the hidden room.

But Jester was looking better too. He was getting more con. . . . conf. . . uh, better at the stuff---

“Alright Torch, let me see your paper.” Chug said and Torch handed him the paper he was scribbling on.

Right now, Master was teaching him to write.

.

Blade took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. Jester was going to pay. Today’s practice was trying to catch the little bugger and get the blue diamond from him. He almost had it when Jester had to go and pull that sneaky stunt of trapping him chest deep in a bowl of red jello.

Tunneler was no better, he’d gotten snagged by a boon net and tangled himself up in it like a spider’s web trying to get out. Blade was on his way to free him when the jello sprung up from the ground below and Jester swung away laughing his head off and taking his hat.

“ _Pinhead!_ ” Tunneler shouted.

“ _Hey, I said I was gonna get you out and get you out I will!_ ” Blade shouted and wriggled in the jello.

“ _When? When the jello melts?! I’m getting a headache over here!_ ” Tunneler shouted.

They had to shout to hear each other.

“ _Maybe your magic coat should sprout you a pair of wings and fly you over here!_ ” Tunneler said sarcastically.

Blade imagined himself with black wings. “ _Hmm, not a bad image._ ” he mumbled to himself and went ‘gaah!’ when his coat opened up himself a pair of black dragon-like wings, splattering jello everywhere and thrust him upwards with a very strong flap, flapping to keep him in the air.

Jester stopped in his tracks and awed at Blade’s new features. “ _Cool!!_ ” he shouted and was caught by Pinhead who sat on him and fished out the blue diamond from his pocket.

“ _I got it!_ ” he shouted, holding up the gem.

“ _Yes! We won!_ ” came Tunneler. “ _Now can someone get me down?!!_ ”

.

“ _Blade, come on, show us the wings again. Please, please, please!_ ” Jester pleaded, taking hold of Blade’s waist and refusing to let go, thus being dragged back to the attic room.

“ _Jester, let go! I don’t know how that happened!_ ” Blade grunted. Jester was heavy now with all his arsenal attached to him. He never removed them, not after the totems attacked them in their sleep one night. “ _That’s why I’m going to see the brother._ ” Blade finally lost his battle in pulling Jester off of him and fell to the ground.

“Just try to think of the last thought you thought of when the wings came out.” Tunneler suggested.

“ _It is worth a shot, boss._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _Fine, I’ll give it a try._ ” Blade sighed. “ _If Jester will let go and get off of me._ ” he growled.

Jester stood up and then helped Blade up.

“ _So, what was your last thought?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Well, you suggested that my magic coat should sprout me some wings and fly over to you, so I imagined myself having wings and then there they were._ ” Blade said.

“ _Right, it was much more than just imagining it, wasn’t it?_ ” Jester snickered. “ _Come on, make it a grand entrance like before._ ”

“ _No, really, that’s all there was. I just pictured myself having wings and then I did._ ” Blade said.

Jester, Tunneler and Pinhead all nodded their heads knowingly.

“ _Oh, alright, I suppose I did imagine something along the lines of . . . . (clears throat) b’tmn._ ” he mumbled.

“ _Wha-a-at?_ ” Jester asked, grinning mischievously.

“ _I was thinking . . . b’mn._ ” Blade mumbled.

“ _We can’t hear you._ ” sang the three.

“ _I was thinking of Batman!_ ” Blade said in a loud clear, annoyed voice and the wings came out.

“ _Yes! I knew it! Told you so!_ ” exclaimed all three at the same time.

“ _Yeah, yeah, very funny._ ” Blade pouted, the wings folding back into his coat and he continued walking.

“ _Wait! Why ask the brother? Didn’t the kid make it? Maybe he should be the one you should be asking._ ” Jester suggested.

“ _Yeah, Jess does have a point._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _I suppose. But the brother knows more about magic than the kid does._ ” Blade said.

“ _But the kid does know more about potions and chemistry._ ” Tunneler inputted.

“ _Yeah, there’s that too._ ” Blade agreed.

“ _So, ask the both of them together. Don’t make things so hard for yourself just because you’re the leader._ ” Jester said and skipped ahead of them, his bells jingling down the hall.

“ _He’s right you know. Jester was the leader before you and he didn’t even act like it one bit, unless it was demanded it of him._ ” Tunneler said.

Blade sighed, “ _I know you guys are right. I . . . put too much in things. It’s kinda hard to let go of an age old tradition, you know. Old habits and all that talk._ ” Blade chuckled.

“ _’Rome wasn’t built in one day’?_ ” Pinhead questioned.

“ _’Nobody’s perfect’._ ” Tunneler said.

Then the four of them just started spouting old sayings, laughing all the way to the attic room.

.

“ _Hey, kid, Blade’s got a new question for you and your brother!!_ ” Jester hollered, climbing up the bookshelf that had his and Blade’s bed.

“ _Give me away why don’t ya!_ ” Blade called out, shaking a fist at Jester.

Chug came out of the room carrying a bundle of pink and baby blue blankets in his arms. “Be with you guys in a moment!” he called out to them. Torch had come out of the room as well, with a small spiral notebook and a container that was rattling.

“ _Hey Torch, how ya feeling?_ ” Jester called from the shelf.

“ _Better!_ ” Torch answered and ran after Chug.

“ _How long has it been since Torch has actually been around us for more than a few seconds?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Uh,. . . ._ ” 

“ _So? He’s happy. Leave him be._ ” Blade said with a shrug and climbed up the work desk and paced.

“ _But you said you’d explain what happened to you and Jester when we were all together._ ” Tunneler said.

Blade paused in his step. He had completely forgotten about that. ‘ _And was kind of hoping they would too._ ’ he thought to himself. “ _Um, I will, but . . . ._ ”

“Okay, what’s your question, B?” Chug asked, Torch in his arms.

Blade let out a mental sigh of relief. ‘ _Saved by the kid._ ’ he thought and cleared his throat. “ _Uh, it’s about my coat._ ” he said and asked for a video replay of their session for a better explanation.

“Oh, that’s nothing. See, the coat is magical and reacts to your neural patterns. So if you wanted a pair of wings to save you from, I don’t know, falling out of a tree and splatter yourself into a million pieces then you’ll get some wings, or a few extra legs like a spider. It’s also fire resistant but can absorb heat for later use like in cold weather conditions. And you don’t have to be magical for it to work either.” Chug said.

“ _You don’t?!_ ” questioned all six puppets.

“No.” Chug smiled. “If it can work for The Beatles, it most certainly can work for animated wood and metal brought to life.”

“ _Beetles? Why would insects that can already fly want extra wings?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Not those beetles, THE Beatles! The music group!_ ” Jester said and then gasped. “ _You’ve met The Beatles?! For Real?!_ ” he squealed. One of their former masters was a huge Beatles fan.

“Yeah.” Chug merely said.

“ _Now how can that be when you’re only nineteen and they were in the sixties?_ ” Blade asked, crossing his arms.

“I was seventeen when I first met them in person, but I was thirteen when I attended my first concert of them.” Chug said.

“ _Doesn’t really explain much, unless you can actually time travel._ ” Blade said.

“We can.” came Kokiri’s voice.

“ _Lies! Since when?!_ ” Six Shooter shouted indignantly from his cell.

“Ever since we were little. It helped big time for history class.” Chug answered, mumbling the last part. “This hat I wear actually belonged to Peter Lorre.”

Blade gasped. “ _Peter Lorre, the Silver Screen Menace?_ ” Another former master loved watching old horror movies.

“Uh, yeah, he gave it to me when I was thirteen.” Chug said.

“ _Wait, you said you attended your first Beatles concert when you were thirteen._ ” Tunneler said. “ _How could you have gained Peter Lorre’s hat AND attend a concert in the sixties without ruining the timeline?_ ” he asked.

“ _He just said they could time travel!_ ” Jester stated.

“ _Well, unless he went to the concert right after a visit from Peter Lorre or the other way around---_ ” stated Tunneler.

“Tunneler, we’re aliens, our time frame doesn’t exactly work as they do on Earth.” Chug said, stopping a possible argument.

Six Shooter looked at his brothers and then at the two brothers. “ _Explain._ ” he demanded.

“We’re from a planet called Mystica and my age right now on Mystica is nineteen.” Chug said in a slow manner as if he were talking to a child.

“ _And on Earth?_ ” Blade questioned, holding his hand for him to continue.

“On Earth I’m one hundred, ninety-six.” Chug answered. “It takes ten Earth years to make one Mystican year.”

“ _If you’re almost two-hundred, how old is your brother?_ ” Jester asked.

“I’m almost twenty-one.” Kokiri answered.

The puppets remained silent.

Kokiri sighed. “Two hundred-eight.”

“ _Seriously?!_ ” Six Shooter asked. “ _You’re only two hundred and eight?! I’m over three-thousand, three-thousand and eighty-eight if you want to be precise! How can you be stronger and more powerful than me?_ ” he asked.

“When I combined it with science and common sense.” Kokiri answered.

“ _But how does that help?_ ” Six asked.

“Really?” Kokiri questioned. “You really need to ask that question after how many years? Do you not know how water works? Or how it can act as a conduit for electricity?” Kokiri asked. “Or that when it evaporates it goes from a liquid state to a gaseous state?”

Blade, Jester, Tunneler and Pinhead started to snicker.

“Basic science, man. These things are taught in elementary schools.” Kokiri said.

“ _Well, we didn’t have elementary school in my day._ ” Six said in that sarcastic manner.

“Didn’t stop the rain from falling down, though, now did it?” Chug chuckled.

Torch scratched his head. “ _I don’t get it._ ” he said.

“The clouds, son, when water evaporates from the sun it turns into the clouds and after a while the clouds turn back into water, sometimes even little elaborate ice crystals called snowflakes.” Chug said.

“ _Why do you do that?_ ” Six asked.

“Do what?” Chug asked.

“ _Talk to Torch like he’s a little baby?_ ” Six asked.

“Because he is. You wanna make something of it?” Chug said, growling at the last part.

There was a sudden subtle rumbling noise, like faraway thunder, and things started to move across the desk. Blade lost his balance and fell. Then it suddenly stopped.

“ _No, no, whatever you say._ ” Six said, middle arms twiddling their thumbs, his lower arms behind his back and his top arms in held in front of him in a surrender.

“Good. Now, Kegs, you can .. . . Uh, take over.” Chug said and left with Torch back to his room.

“You were this close.” Kokiri whispered to Six Shooter, making a little space between his thumb and index finger. “We’re near the edge of a cliff, remember? Don’t piss him off.” He stood up and left the room.

“ _What the hell just happened?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _The kid got mad, that’s what happened._ ” Jester said, completely nonchalant about the whole thing.

“ _Why do you still want Torch? He’s out of your hands! All six of them! Just leave him alone!_ ” Blade said in a not loud voice, more of an annoyed, exasperated voice.

“ _I’ve been trying! I know there’s a better opportunity here with the original brewer and the brother, but I just can’t! The formula wasn’t the only thing Sutekh stole!_ ” Six said.

“ _Yeah, we get it. He got your whole family!_ ” Jester said.

“ _No, no, no, I mean the formula wasn’t the only magical thing he stole. There was a whole archive hidden deep inside a cave. And there was .. . . . ugh! There was something else down there!_ ” Six Shooter growled and started hitting his head. “ _It. . . It was shiny, there was a blue light. . . ._ ” he sighed and leaned back against a wall. “ _I saw it when I was a kid._ ” he said in a more calm tone and looked out the window. He could see the driveway from where he stood, and he could see the brother’s blue car. “ _It looked like that, actually._ ”

“ _Looked like what?_ ” Blade asked, climbing up to see where Six was looking.

The others climbed up too.

“ _Like that. Like the brother’s car._ ” Six said and a brief flash of memory sprung up, but it was all jumbled and flashed too quickly for him. Except one: the sound of a loud monstrous roar.

“ _The brother’s car? Now you’re just sounding desperate._ ” Jester smiled. “ _I mean, sure, they can time travel, but how can the brother get his car deep inside a cave without damaging it? He loves his cars._ ”

“ _I said, it LOOKED like the brother’s car._ ” Six growled. “ _When are you going to return my hat?_ ” he asked.

“ _When you start being nicer to Torch._ ” Jester said and looked down at the drive way. “ _You think the kid will let us ride the megs around the driveway?_ ” he asked.

“ _That sounds like fun! Let’s go ask him._ ” Blade said.

.

.


	46. Speculations and Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Italicized words” = Puppets talking  
> ‘Italicized words’= Puppets thoughts  
> “Not Italicized”= not-puppet speech  
> ‘not italicized’= not-puppet thoughts  
> ~animals and insects talking~  
> \-------------------------------  
> Chug Yamazaki/aliases: The Kid, Coon Kid/Other names: Chugs, Chugsy, Coon (for future references)  
> Kokiri Yusaga/aliases: The Blue Fox, The Blue Guardian, The Brother/Other names: Kegs, Kegsy, Zenna (pronounced Zenya) for future references)

.

Chug entered his room and placed Torch on the bed.

“ _Boss, what did Six mean when he said you treat me like a child?_ ” Torch asked.

“He’s just looking for an excuse to get you mad, or embarrass you.” Chug answered and headed over to a bookshelf.

“ _But . . . do you treat me like a child?_ ” Torch asked, crawling up to the pillows and snuggled under the blankets.

“Yes, I do, but that’s because you are a child, my bairn. Your brothers all act like adults because they were adults in their former life.”

“ _But Six told me that I don’t have a former life. That I wasn’t . . um,_ ”

“No, you’re not human in the common definition, and you are most certainly not human in my definition, either. See, your Father, Toulon, he made you completely from scratch. The brains that brought you to life are indeed animalistic in nature, but not just any animal. Your brainwaves have me confused, to tell you the truth.” Chug said.

“ _Why?_ ”

“Because they don’t read as Terran origin. Earth.” Chug said, adding the last part when Torch tilted his head in confusion. “But they do read as those of a young one. Very young. Almost in infantry status, but that doesn’t bother me one bit, you know why?”

Torch shook his head.

“Because then it gives me the opportunity to raise you as my own. You don’t want me to treat you like I do with your brothers, do you? Leave you all by yourself with only them for company?”

“ _No! I good boy!_ ” Torch cried, burying himself under the blankets.

“See? With me, you’ll be protected, loved and cared for. That sounds better than being treated like an adult, doesn’t it?” Chug said, chuckling and selected a book.

“ _I good boy._ ” Torch mumbled, peeking out from under the covers.

“Yes, you are, my wee bairn.” Chug smiled.

His doorbell rang and he answered, Blade and Jester running inside real quick.

“ _Six seems troubled._ ” Blade blurted. “ _More than usual._ ” he added.

“ _I thought you wanted to ask about the meg rides._ ” Jester whined.

“What are you talking about, Six is troubled? And what about the megs?” Chug asked, picking them up and placing them on the bed and sitting between them and Torch.

“ _Well, I wanted to ask if we could ride the megs around the driveway._ ” Jester pouted, crossing his arms.

“ _Six was remembering something about Sutekh and said your brother’s car resembled something he’d seen when he was a kid. He hit himself over the head with it._ ” Blade said. “ _In the exact same way Torch does when he’s trying to remember something._ ”

“ _Really?_ ” Jester asked quietly. Blade nodded. “ _Then he really was trying to remember something._ ” Jester said.

“What? Why are you guys whispering?” Chug asked.

“ _Six said he was trying to forget Torch as his general, but the way he put things and the way he acted, I don’t think he’s really himself._ ” Blade said.

“What? You mean, like, someone’s pulling his strings without him knowing sorta deal?” Chug asked.

“ _Yeah!_ ” Blade exclaimed.

Chug leaned back in thought. “That does sound intriguing. If Six will allow it, Kegs can scan his memories to help him remember. And we can test your theory at the same time. Kegs isn’t a fox just for his looks you know.” Chug said and winked at Blade with a grin.

Blade gawked turned away and crossed his arms. “ _I know._ ” he said petulantly.

“Okay, we’ll look into it. And yes, you guys can ride the megs. Even in the hotel. As a matter of fact, you guys should add the flying to your practices. If we are eventually going to go up against an army of Sutekh’s totems, we’d better be more prepared than they are.”

Jester and Blade nodded and left the room through a secret entrance he’d made for them.

“ _Jester’s an adult but he acts like a child sometimes._ ” Torch said, scratching his head.

“Yeah, it’s called immaturity. I’ll tell you about that some other time. Let’s get to reading ‘The Portrait of Dorian Grey’.” Chug said and snuggled under the covers with Torch.

.

Kokiri walked up the driveway towards his car, sending a text to his brother when he felt a vibration in the air and quickly ducked. Two little twelve inch long brown megalograptus flew overhead and made a u-turn to go at him again. He ducked and shifted to his left when another came up from behind, mid-section and another coming up on his right. He dodged them all and turned to find Blade, Jester, Tunneler and Pinhead all laughing at him and waving their weapons in the air like a bunch of warriors.

“You guys really want to go up against an ocean dweller?” he called out to them, a grin on his face.

Jester raised his staff and whooped.

“Alright, let’s see how you lot fair.” Kokiri replied and turned into his fox form and flew after them.

The puppets spent hours chasing one another, even after the brother left to run a few errands. It was sundown by the time he returned and told them all to get inside and put the megs back. They all argued, bargained, pouted and pleaded but finally relented when he promised them they could watch a few of his and Chug’s old war movies in the lounge.

“ _Okay, but only if Six and Torch get to watch too._ ” Blade said, standing on his meg.

“Torch is already sleep, and Six will have to stay in his cell.” Kokiri said and they agreed.

.

Six Shooter felt some excitement when he was told that he could watch some war movies with his brothers in the lounge. He’d been trapped in that cell for three weeks now and he was starting to get a little stir crazy. Although he was often let out to take some classes with Blade and Jester, but it was under strict supervision.

He was placed on the coffee table, the others surrounded him and made themselves more comfortable when the lights went out.

“ _Which one are we watching?_ ” he asked.

“ _Some war movies of the two Brothers._ ” Blade answered and then shooshed him when the film started.

Ten hours later. . . .

The puppets all sat quietly. They were stunned, appalled, awed, scared, shocked, astounded, and gawked at the screen as the credits rolled up.

“ _Damn._ ” said Tunneler.

“ _Blimey._ ” said Pinhead.

“ _Cor._ ” breathed Jester.

“ _God damn._ ” said Six Shooter.

“ _These brothers are . . ._ ” Blade began and then suddenly shot up. “ _We’re amateurs compared to them! They’ve fought with everything for everything! They’re masters! They’re relentless! They’re--_ ”

“ _Pretty damn amazing!_ ” Jester breathed. “ _Did you see how they handled martial arts? They fought blooming gorillas! Alien rhinos! Creatures that were four fucking times bigger than they were!_ ” he said excitedly. “ _No wonder they don’t take these totems seriously! They’re Vets!_ ”

“ _They’ve got an army that makes Earth’s laughable. The brother has his own space armada for crying out loud._ ” said Tunneler.

“ _Even the kid has his own army. Both on earth and in space._ ” said Pinhead.

“ _An animal trainer, who would’ve thought? No wonder with the monkey and the hawk._ ” Jester chuckled.

“ _And the snakes back at the cabin._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _They’ve stormed castles, old factories. The kid even used himself as bait and is apparently more dangerous when he’s had chocolate._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _They’re unbelievable!_ ” Blade shouted. “ _The brother especially!_ ”

Jester, Pinhead and Tunneler stopped talking and they looked at Blade.

“ _Why?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Did you see how the brother split himself into five other copies? All different, yes, and each with different powers. I’ve felt those cores and the fire one is dangerous. But . . ._ “

“ _But what?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Do you really believe they’ve done all that and still remain the same afterwards? War changes people. We know this. We’ve all come from war times._ ” Blade said.

“ _So? It keeps them together. It’s kept us together, why not the same with the brothers?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _To train an army like that in so little time? How do you think they’ve accomplished that?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Uh, alien technology?_ ” Tunneler suggested.

“ _I suppose, but we can’t blame every unfactored irrationality on aliens._ ” Blade said.

“ _Blade, don’t ruin the mood. The film was fun, and it shows that we’ve got a lot of work to do if we’re ever going to be prepared like them._ ” Jester said and stood up.

“ _You guys go on ahead, I’m gonna stay down here and . . . meditate._ ” Blade said and headed over to the fireplace.

“ _All right, night B._ ” Jester said and hopped off the coffee table. Pinhead and Tunneler following suit. “ _So what was you guys’ favorite part?_ ” he asked.

“ _The kid driving his motorcycle through traffic._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _The brother tearing up pavement._ ” said Tunneler.

“ _Mine is when the kid fights with a spatula and goes ‘Underpants!’!_ ” Jester said, all three laughing.

Six watched them go and looked back at Blade who sat down and tapped his fingers against his hook the same way the brother does when he was thinking.

“ _You feeling alright?_ ” he asked.

“ _I’m fine._ ” Blade answered.

“ _I really miss you guys._ ” Six said, waiting for Blade to make a reaction and sighed when he didn’t. “ _I saw you guys riding the megs down on the driveway. Looked like a lot of fun._ ”

“ _It was._ ” Blade said with a silent chuckle. “ _Jester went nuts._ ”

Six smiled. “ _So, any chance that I’ll get out when the totems do come?_ ” he asked.

“ _Not really sure. You’d have to ask the kid about that._ ” Blade said.

“ _How far did you get with your magic?_ ” Six asked, finally getting Blade to look at him. “ _Just wondering._ ” he added.

“ _So far the brother’s taught me how to make sonic pulses, send out constant ripples and locate other magicals._ ” Blade answered. “ _And you were there about my coat._ ”

“ _Yeah, I was._ ” Six mumbled, just so there was some kind of noise in the room. He didn’t like the quiet anymore. The attic room was mostly quiet and only burst into noise whenever Jester entered from his classes. He’d gotten over his phobia at long last. Now he talks endlessly about them about their fighting skills. Pinhead didn’t talk at all, focusing on learning how to use the kid’s screen and its linguistics. He’s hardly ever seen Tunneler, but Blade was more rarer than him. He’d seen Blade a total of eight times in the attic room since he’s been locked away.

He had stopped trying to leave his cell when he was caught ten times trying to sneak into Torch’s room. What the hell kind of security did the kid install? ‘Cause it was really good.

“Well, everyone’s gone to bed. You and Six are the remaining ones and now here I am.” Kokiri said, coming from the shadows.

“ _About time, what hell took you so long?_ ” Blade asked, standing up and headed back to the coffee table, his coat giving him a lift up.

“I was listening to Jester laugh his head off. Then had to make sure he was still breathing afterward.” Kokiri answered and sat down between the couch and the coffee table.

“ _What-what are you doing here?_ ” Six asked, backing away from the brother. He could feel his power stirring.

“Blade said you had a memory you were trying to remember from your childhood. I’ve come to see if I could lend you a hand with it.” Kokiri answered, opening the cell and grabbing Six gently but firmly.

“ _Are you sure? You’re not gonna rummage around in there like you did with that old man?_ ” Six asked.

“No, and if I did, you probably wouldn’t notice.” Kokiri said. “But I’ll only go in if you want me to.” he added and placed him on the coffee table next to Blade.

“ _We miss you too. You used to be so much fun._ ” Blade said.

Six rubbed his hands together nervously. He wanted to be back with his brothers as well, but he just felt so nervous around the two brothers. He felt safe inside his cell. At least they couldn’t harm him while he was in there, but there was nothing to do! And he wasn’t getting anywhere with Torch under constant guard. So, what was there to lose? “ _Alright, let’s have a look._ ” he said and started to shake when the brother touched his face.

“Now, think of the vision you saw that brought the memory.” Kokiri said.

Six thought back to the blue light and the brother’s car.

He could hear someone calling out to him. No, they were telling him something. He sensed he was in danger --- the blue light---shouting---screaming--the monstrous roar---

Kokiri broke the contact and was breathing heavily.

“ _What happened?_ ” Blade asked.

“I don’t know. I want to try again.” Kokiri said.

“ _Try as much as you want. I want to know the memory too._ ” Six said and tried to calm his nerves when the brother touched him again.

The bright blue light---shouts--fighting--a tumble---danger--hide--screams--the monstrous roar---

Kokiri broke the connection again and rubbed his face. “I can’t. . . I can’t get into it without hurting him. Something’s blocking me.” he said and looked at Blade. “You might be right.”

.

.


	47. Breaching Six's Mind

.

“Now, shall we check about another subject? I could see if I can trace the blockage and have the kid come up with a possible solution.” Kokiri said, rubbing his hands together.

“ _W-what do you mean?_ ” Six asked, his trembling getting more noticeable.

“Don’t you worry, I won’t harm you. Well, I’ll try not to, anyway.” Kokiri said and placed his fingertips on Six Shooter’s head.

.

Blade watched as Six’s breathing became frantic and his trembling was going to a full on shake. What was Six so afraid of? Was it even him that was afraid? Or is the one pulling his strings the one afraid and doesn’t want to let go of Six?

.

Kokiri entered Six Shooter’s mind and found himself in a black void. This was nothing new, he’s traveled black voids plenty of times and started looking for Six Shooter’s core. This was so he could add a strand of his own to help Six and himself as well. He was in someone else’s mind after all. He’d need to be able to protect himself from whatever was ailing Six.

The blockage felt a little familiar, much like the old man’s, but he knew how to get into things without letting the host or other riders notice. It’s what made him such an efficient agent. If more magicals studied water more often and really looked into it they could excel in their magic as well. Water was his specialty and his greatest resource. An element that is so underestimated and overlooked that people never really bothered to look into. It can come in three substances, revert back, is untraceable if used properly and can save one’s life more often than not.

‘Six Shooter, are you in here?’ he thought, sending out subtle pulses.

He came across an orange globe that swirled gently and slowly and resembled that of a sun. He scanned, poked, prodded and twanged a few stray strands, seeing if there was any reaction.

.

Blade flinched when Six started acting weird. His arms all rose up, pointed in different direction and an orange blast shot out of one. ‘ _What the devil?_ ’ he thought and backed up a few paces from him.

.

Kokiri looked for anything out of the ordinary, scanning the ball in different spectrums of the colors but couldn’t really find anything. So, as a precaution, he added a few strands of his own and blended it with Six Shooter’s.

‘That ought to do it.’ he thought and went off in search of the hidden memory again, choosing to swim through the void instead of walking. The vibration of his movements going off in waves throughout the whole void, alerting Six’s systems of an intruder.

Kokiri slowed down his swimming and landed when he came across an old stone door. He walked up to it and placed a hand on the center, getting an immediate hostile shock from it. ‘Ok, here’s a possible source.’ he thought and felt another rippling off to his side and swam away. ‘And here it comes.’ he smirked, leaving trails of different magic all over the place.

.

Blade was backing up towards the brother when Six Shooter’s head and arms started to jerk around. ‘ _What the blazes is that fox doing?_ ’

.

Kokiri came across a few more closed doors, all having hostile electric shocks as their security. ‘Somebody definitely has control here. But to have this much? Six had to be just a child to have this much damage done to him.’ he thought and startled when he heard a small whimper. Sending out a false trail of his whereabouts he took cover and watched as Six’s natural security systems flew by.

He looked down and spotted a little child. ‘Hello there.’ he smiled.

The child looked up at him and sniffled. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

‘I’m The Blue Guardian. What are you doing hiding here?’ Kokiri asked.

‘Grandpa told me to stay hidden. He said he and his dad are gonna fight the red demon.’ the child answered.

‘Red demon?’ Kokiri asked. ‘How long have you stayed here?’ Kokiri asked.

‘I don’t know. But I know there’s something out there posing as me.’ the child whispered and scurried back into the void.

Kokiri let the child go, sensing something approaching. He didn’t have time to swim away so he turned to face it. The demon was red all right, but it was more of a demoness than anything. “You have got to be kidding me.” Kokiri said out loud and chuckled. “Seriously? You go and terrorize a small village because you didn’t get you wanted?”

The demoness growled.

“Oh, that’s nice. You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

The demoness growled louder.

“Oh, that’s right. She’d dead. And who’s fault was that, huh?”

(Growls)

“Still in denial about it, I see. Even your own brothers and father know the truth.”

(roars)

“If you can’t do the research then don’t do the work!”

(ROARS!)

“Oh yeah, that’s attractive.” Kokiri mumbled.

(snorts)

“Still, it leaves me wondering why you would want my brother’s potions. I mean, sure Panther helped a bit, but only as an assistant. He didn’t do the actual brewing.”

(snarls)

“Ugh, you are such a girl. He was not into you, he never will be, and let’s face it, he was too evil to begin with.”

( **ROAAAAARS!!!** )

“Why a lackey, huh? Why use a helpless little child to do your dirty work? Scratch that, helpless little children? You’re no different than the old man was with his war!” Kokiri grounded out.

The demoness sent out a surge of energy and Kokiri was blasted out of Six Shooter’s head, slamming back against the couch.

Six Shooter was flown across the room and landed in the fireplace. Blade thanked his lucky stars there was no fire in it and ran over to help him. “ _Are you ok? What happened? What happened?_ ” Blade asked Six first and then the brother.

Kokiri righted himself, chuckling away. “Oh, this is rich. The kid’s not gonna believe this. He’s gonna have a field day.” he said and levitated Blade and Six Shooter in the air with his magic and set them on the coffee table. “Six, you wouldn’t happen to know your great-grandfather’s name, would you?” he asked.

“ _What’s that got to do with anything?_ ” Blade asked.

“Just curious. And don’t think I’m through with you either, mister. Just because you haven’t had any nightmares, doesn’t mean it’s gone. It still happened.” Kokiri said.

Blade stiffened and kept quiet.

“Six, do you recall your great-grandfather’s name?” Kokiri asked again.

Six Shooter shook his head and rubbed it. “ _Um, I . . . I think it was uh, . . . Panther?_ ”

“Are you sure?” Kokiri asked.

“ _No, can I go to bed? I’m . . . a little disoriented._ ” Six said tiredly.

“In you go.” Kokiri said, opening the cell doors.

Six walked in and lied down on the bunk that was provided and fell asleep.

Blade raised his hand to speak but the brother made a silent gesture and stood up. “I’ll be back and then maybe we can sort through your memories.” he said and left the room.

“ _I’d rather you didn’t!_ ” Blade called out to the brother’s retreating back and became jittery. “ _I’d really rather you didn’t._ ” he said to himself, switching his hand out to his knife and rubbed his knife and hook together in a nervous gesture and paced the coffee table.

Kokiri returned ten minutes later, emerging from the shadows and watched Blade pace. It’s his favorite way of traveling because he gets to see people jump out of their skins and sometimes wet themselves.

“You really don’t want me to rummage around in there, do you?” he smiled when Blade jumped.

“ _I hate it when you do that._ ” Blade grumbled, crossing his arms. “ _And no, I don’t want you to rummage around my brains looking for something I don’t want you to see._ ”

“I don’t necessarily have to see it. I know what it is.” Kokiri said, kneeling down in front of the coffee table and putting himself eye to eye level with Blade, conjuring a blue wing-back chair for him.

“ _Then why do you want to look?_ ” Blade asked, sitting down.

“I don’t want to look. It was bad enough going through it once, I don’t want to see it happening to someone else.” Kokiri said.

Blade looked up. “ _You’ve been through it too?_ ”

“Yeah, back when I was fifteen. I had nightmares for months. My brother didn’t fair well either.”

“ _You’re brother . . .?_ ”

“Yeah, he didn’t really experience it the same way as you and me, but he did have to watch.”

“ _Really? Why?_ ”

“Kinda hard to say no when you have four tommy guns pointed at your head and you’re tied to a chair, your own brother’s life used as leverage.”

“ _Well, when you put it that way, that was a dumb question to ask._ ” Blade said with a breathless chuckle and rubbed his hook and knife together nervously and took a deep breath. “ _Do you at least promise not to tell Jester about it?_ ” he asked, voice cracking a little.

“I promise.”

At the end of the night near dawn Blade had done something he hadn’t done in a long time. He told his story and then he cried.

.

.


	48. Getting Ready For Battle

.

Six Shooter had woken in the middle of the night due to a nightmare, sitting up in a jolt. The memory search from the brother was what the nightmare was about. He tried to remember the images but the faded quickly back into the dark abyss of his mind. He wished his grandfather had pushed him into learning Mind Magic like his father before him. Grandpa had gone on and on about how his father had gone through harsh times and how his mind magic had saved him on countless occasions and that it would be beneficial for the family to learn. Now he was regretting not learning the skill.

He rolled around in his bed trying to go back to sleep, but after twenty minutes, ‘ _Ah, forget it. I’ll just get up and pace around._ ’ he thought and got up. He made his bed because, really, there was nothing to do in his cell.

He felt the urge to go after Torch again but resisted it. It was because of Torch that he was placed in the cell in the first place. He shook his head and tried to find another reason than to blame this on Torch. Though technically it was true, but was it really Torch’s fault? All he wanted was an emotionless general who wouldn’t question his motives for waging war against Sutekh.

‘ _But why?!?!?_ ’ Six shooter battled himself over this question all night, finally falling back asleep on his bed an hour after the sun rose.

.

Kokiri sat next to his brother who had Torch cuddled up in his arms, reading a book and waiting for him to wake up. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he thought about how he would react to who was really behind Six’s motives for Torch’s emotionless state. Even when he thought of Blade’s talk about his incident, the smile wouldn’t leave. Though it did falter a little.

He put his book down and shifted as Chug started to stir.

Chug blinked his eyes open and looked down at Torch who held tight to his Teddy-Master as he dubbed it and smiled a little. The blankets behind him felt a little tight and he turned around to see his brother smiling down at him. It was smile that said he had some news to share.

“What is it?” he asked, turning over, stirring Torch a little.

“Six is indeed being pulled. Come here.” Kokiri said, helping Chug sit up and whispered the name in Chug’s ear who’s eyes went wide and he turned to look at his brother.

“No!” he breathed.

“Yeah.” Kokiri grinned.

“No way!”

“Yeah, way!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah!”

“No!”

“Absolutely.”

“Holy cow! Seriously?!” Chug hissed.

“Seriously.” Kokiri chuckled.

“Same ambition for the reason?” Chug asked.

“Yep,” Kokiri answered.

“U-u-u-ugh! Girls.” Chug flopped back down, waking Torch.

“ _Master?_ ” Torch asked sleepily.

“Sorry Torch, I didn’t mean to wake you. You go back to sleep.” Chug said, petting his helmet.

Torch snuggled further under the covers and fell back asleep, clutching his teddy closer.

“One side so I can get out of bed.” Chug hissed at his brother who complied and Chug slid out of bed and fixed his blankets, tucking Torch in and kissing him on the head. “Ok, let’s go talk in a different room.” Chug whispered and ushered Kokiri out of his room.

.

Pinhead was doing a review of his scan readings when he noticed a build up of energy gathering in the smoke room. The numbers on the screen was moving so fast that as soon as it reached six digits it set off the alarm.

The whole room was shrouded in red and the sirens that went off were different from Six’s. He looked around, noticing all the large spiders and the scorpions in the room were scurrying out of the room and out into the hallway. He pressed a few buttons, bringing up the security cameras on the screen and watched as all the arachnids separated into groups and disappeared down vents, cracks in walls and climbed up the walls and march on the ceiling.

Blade and Jester jumped up on the desk, covering their ears.

“ _What’s going on?!_ ” Blade shouted over the alarm.

Pinhead pointed at the smoke room on the screen. Blade noticed it and ran off to get the kid. Jester looked at the screen that showed the locations of all the arachnids in the hotel. He gulped at the number of spiders and scorpions that were the mega-huge-enormous ones.

“ _Do you think the army’s come through?!_ ” Jester shouted.

Pinhead shrugged his shoulders and continued to run the scans in the smoke room.

Jester clicked on a button that had a camera label in the smoke room on the screen and the view came in showing them that the little pyramid was broken completely and that the totems were practically spurting out of it like a geyser, or the scarabs from ‘The Mummy’, and were running rampant. They were coming in droves and soon the room was swarmed and flooded with the totems.

“ _I think it’s time for the proper battle,_ ” Jester said and took off to find the kid.

.

Six Shooter fell out of his bed when the alarm rang and looked around to see what was happening. He didn’t bother asking because he knew he wouldn’t be heard. Instead he looked over to where Pinhead usually was when he studied for his computer class and noticed an increase of an energy build-up in the smoke room and that the arachnid security were all stationed around the hotel in strategic places for an optimum capture and contain job. Some where set to go in for the kill.

He looked at the symbol for the totems and saw that it’s numbers were increasing at a rate that he found himself gawking at it. He banged on his cell walls with all six arms, wanting to go into the battle.

.

Chug and Kokiri looked up when the room they were in was doused in a red light a second before the siren went off. Chug immediately went back to his room to check on Torch.

Kokiri set up all the ‘Washu’-screens and a floating white chair materialized and he sat down and started typing away. He inserted an earpiece in his left ear and checked on the smoke room. “Kid, the totems have already taken over the smoke room and are spreading. This looks to be it.” he said and typed away.

Chug had inserted an earpiece in his left ear as once he left for his room, catching his brother’s message. “I have to make sure Torch is safe first. Six Shooter is going to be free for this battle and I don’t want him anywhere near my son. Send Jester and Blade with him out to the west wing on the megs. Tunneler is with the medical team and Pinhead’s keeping an eye on the emergency screens.” he said and entered his room finding Blade and Jester waiting on the bed. Torch was awake as well, clutching his teddy.

“Battle stations guys, this could be the big battle we’ve been waiting for. Blade, Jester, you two go with Six on the megs to the west wing and defend its borders to this side of the pecos.” he said, gathering Torch in his arms.

Blade and Jester nodded and left to get Six Shooter.

.

Six Shooter was surprised to see Blade and Jester with a key and opened his cell.

“ _The kid wants you should come with us!!_ ” Jester shouted over the siren and dragged him away to a different room.

Pinhead waved them off as they passed by, giving them a thumbs up for good luck.

.

The room that held the megalogratus rides muffled the siren enough for Blade to talk to Six. “ _You’ll be riding with me so Jester doesn’t slice you open on accident._ ” he said.

“ _And because you don’t know how to ride one of these._ ” Jester said and started his meg’s engine. “ _But the kid did make you a few things._ ” he added and flew ahead.

“ _You’re letting him go out first?_ ” Six asked, surprised that Blade would allow Jester to go first in any battle. “ _He’s the lightest one out of all of us._ ”

“ _Yeah, but those martial arts classes turned him into an animal with his arsenal._ ” Blade said, walking over to a cabinet and opened it to reveal Six’s gifts. “ _Take your choice but make it quick before I panic and realize I sent Jester first._ ” Blade said and sat down on his meg.

Six Shooter looked at the gifts that were bestowed on him: six handguns, revolvers, a few laser-looking guns, and some rifles. He wanted to take all of them but his holsters were ruined. But then, he spotted some new holsters and quickly replaced the ruined ones. Then he hastily grabbed the six handguns and put them in the holsters and strapped them on.

His left-second elbow hit the side of the cabinet, revealing more firearms. He gasped when he saw an old Winchester rifle and a box of ammunition. He grabbed those and a silver automatic and a spare magazine and climbed up behind Blade.

“ _Ready._ ” he said.

Blade started his engine and rode off to catch up with Jester. Once he arrived, Jester threw something at Six who caught it and chuckled. Putting his hat back on, he grabbed his new handguns and twirled them. “ _Now I’m ready._ ” he said, his bandana raising itself to cover his face.

.

.


	49. BATTLE!!! (2)

.

Jester lowered his meg to the ground while Blade left his to hover four feet above the ground and told Six to remain on the meg so he could attack from above and be their back up then jumped down to join Jester. Six Shooter cocked each of his hand guns. The Winchester strapped to his back.

The hallway was doused in red lights, the siren having been shut off so that they could hear the totems.

Blade sent out a subtle pulse down the hall and got a handful of echoes back. “ _There’s a small group heading this way._ ” he said quietly to the others and sent out another pulse to locate any emergency exits. There were two vents on his left and one on his right. “ _Two vents to the left and one on the right._ ” he said.

“ _The right one’s the safest._ ” Six said. “ _I memorized the maps._ ” he added when his brothers looked up at him.

They heard the totems screeching and the sound of running clawed feet approaching.

Six Shooter took aim and shot down a few of the totems, immobilizing some and getting others in the head. Jester had knocked out a few and decided to replace his staff with his katanas, knowing there was too much of them for the three of them to handle without killing any and Blade had already killed four, either slicing them in half or slicing their heads off.

Six Shooter replaced each hand gun back in their holsters as soon as they ran out of bullets, grabbed the rifle from his back, loaded it and fired off a round. The result was . . . not what he expected. There was a blast of electricity, electrifying a radius of two feet, zapping most of the totems to death.

“ _Holy-moley! I love this!_ ” he chuckled, cocked it and fired off another round. He looked down and saw that Blade and Jester finished off the last of the group. “ _Now what?_ ” he called down to them.

A holo-screen showed up with a map and directed them to the right vent and down to the kitchens.

“ _We head to the kitchens._ ” Blade said and off they went.

Six Shooter jumped off the meg and followed them, reloading his guns.

The megalograptus turned around and headed back to the room.

.

Pinhead checked the screens, keeping an eye on his brothers when the perimeter systems went off. He looked up and spotted the kid coming out of the hidden room and grabbed him.

“It’s about to stink up in here.” he said and carried him off.

The vents that led to this room were also laid down with several booby traps. One was for shocking the first group when they broke down the vent, another was set to fire off some explosives for coverage, there were trip wires for trap doors and cages, and the last one was a set of stink bombs laid out all over the room. These were Chug’s personal favorites because he could make them rather deadly and the victims would die of suffocation from holding their breath for so long. Some even had their hearts burst from the pressure build up. Others died of air poisoning.

He set Pinhead in front of his own screens and let him watch the events. “Let me know how many go down.” he said and disappeared into another room but left the door open.  
Pinhead saluted and started watching the screens. One screen had an overview of the room, another was a blank blue screen that was for the energy readings, another had the traps laid out, all with a red dot on them indicating that they hadn’t gone off yet.

Five seconds later the screen for the traps flashed four green dots and the blue screen was suddenly flooded with white dots, eight of the dots flickered and went out. Another trap went off and four more dots went out. Three more traps went off, trapping a couple handfuls of the white dots, then the explosives went off, scattering some of the white dots and finally the stink bombs went off one by one with a ten second break between them.

Pinhead coughed and waved the air in front of him away. The kid had made sure the hidden room was secure but still, he had said some of the smell would get through. He coughed some more and looked around for a can of air freshener. He couldn’t find any so had to suck in a deep breath and hold it and watched as a few of the remaining white dots slowly disappeared.

He could feel the formula bubbling inside him and let out his breath, but that just increased the smell and he started gagging.

The kid came out wearing a gas mask. “Sorry. Here, get in this container.” he said, the mask’ respiratory system sounding like Darth Vader’s mask.

Pinhead didn’t complain and jumped into the glass container. The kid relocated him to a large 30in-Hx20in-Wx35in-L fish tank-turned terrarium and let him out in there. Pinhead took a deep breath and let the smell of fresh cut grass fill his plastic lungs. He relaxed and nodded his thanks. The kid nodded back and went back to the hidden room.

‘ _I wonder what he and Torch are up to?_ ’ he thought but shrugged it off and continued to watch the screens. The little white dots had now been reduced to five little white dots, one slowly pulsating before going out completely. Now there were four little white dots.

.

Six Shooter's urge to go after Torch was starting to get a little tougher to handle, but he felt he had it under control, and he had promised himself to tell Blade about it. He wanted some action and action he was going to get. He had been stuck in that cell for nearly ten weeks now, pacing and watching his brothers have all the fun riding around on those megs and free to run around the hotel whenever they wanted.

At least that's what he assumed once the hawk and the monkey had left. Jester had told him that the brother had taken over the classes and that learning how to fly the megs was part of their classes now, and the brother was posing as their enemy to help them better their aim in aerial attacks.

Upon entering the vent to the kitchens he remembered the T-Rexes that lived there. “ _What about the rexes? Are you sure they won’t attack us?_ ” he asked Blade.

“ _Yeah, pretty sure. Just don’t get in their way._ ” Blade said and tapped on the vent’s exit to let the other party know he was there and how many were with him. The security wires were blocked and the vent opened up to let them pass.

“ _What would happen if I did cross their path?_ ” Six asked.

“ _Then you’d get eaten._ ” Jester said.

“ _You’d think they’d be full by now with how many totems they’ve eaten in the past couple months._ ” Blade said and headed over to what looked like a medical station and found Tunneler working on one of the scorpions that had been broken in half but was still functional. Its claws were snapping away and its tail was writhing.

“ _Hey Tunneler, what’s the news?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _We’ve got some major damage from the fronts. We’ve lost about three dozen spiders and two dozen scorpions. Some of the rats had to go out for duty and so far the raptors have been okay._ ” Tunneler said, giving Jester a few tools so he could help put the half scorpion back together. “ _I could use another hand in here, though. It’s just me and the smaller mice!_ ” he called out, starting a small blow torch to wield the half scorpion back together.

Jester volunteered to stay with Tunneler, having taken some medical classes with him and that his brothers would feel better knowing he was safe. He was pretty sure they rather he didn’t have any part in the fighting, preferring that he stay somewhere safe. At least in the medical field he’d be doing something to help at the very least.

Blade switched his blade to his hand and patted Jester on the back and left with Six Shooter back to the battlefield. Tunneler handed them a small holo-screen that the kid had made for each of them as a way to communicate. It was a little tricky and through trial and error managed to get a working one and then made copies of that one. The screens used pressure instead of heat signatures from the fingers like they were usually made.

The kid had explained that the screens had plasma in them and they kind of freaked over it since they knew what plasma generally was and were it could be usually found, but the kid said it was all right. The plasma was made in a laboratory and he had plenty of it.

So Blade held up his screen that was the size of a mobile phone and checked for any messages from the kid. The kid sent one saying they were needed on the fourth floor. He looked back to make sure Six was still with him and made him go up front and led him to the fourth floor.

.

Kokiri closed in on the smoke room to get a better look at the source of the totems’ entrance way. If he could figure out how much energy was being put in he could possibly reverse it and close it up for good. These were times when he wished he understood the technical side of things like his brother did. He understood how magic worked and how some basic and advanced science could be combined to make one more powerful with less energy usage. He understood molecular science and how the elements worked on a scientific level that made him virtually immortal. He could actually die if he wanted to, but for his brother’s sake, he didn’t. If he did die, who would be there to look out for him?

He clicked on the numbers running the scans and tried to figure out how to stop it.

“Ah, forget this. I’m heading down there.” he said and left the station.

From what he’s seen of these totems they seemed to be as real as any other living being and ran on blood. Blood was in liquid form and liquid can be turned to ice. The totems he came across were instantly turned to solid, clear crystal ice and smashed into little pieces or reduced to a puddle of water or were set on fire. The little Toulons were getting restless with their training so he made sure to leave some for them to fight, just freezing them in place and walked past them down to the smoke room.

He pressed his earpiece and spoke, “Kid, I couldn’t figure it out so I’m just gonna blast the thing and seal it with the lightning diamond. Is that alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, I s’pose. Just make sure to leave some for the other guys.” Chug replied.

“Alrighty, I’ll see you soon.” Kokiri said and reached into his left pocket and brought out a ten inch long diamond shaft with a winter blue lightning bolt trapped inside and touched the shattered pyramid with it, causing another shock-wave of power, making the lights in the hotel glow brighter before exploding and plunging everything in darkness. But the portal did stop, cutting a few totems in half from the sudden closure as well as vaporizing and frying others, and the pyramid was reduced to a fine powdered dust which Kokiri gathered up in a gentle whirlwind and placed in a glass vial, cork it and sealed it with a liquid glue from his finger.

“Oops,” he mumbled when he saw the remains of the pyramid. “. . . . Oh well, they’ll just have to make the best of it.” he said out in the darkness and left through apparition.

.

Six Shooter knew that he wasn’t fully trusted yet when Blade had him take the front. The urge to get to Torch was getting stronger the farther he went away from him. He knew Torch was in the attic room with the kid and the kid held him under lock and key. This battle was a golden opportunity for him to sneak off and get to Torch. He could easily out-gun Blade, or knock him out and run back to the attic and get Torch. But it was just the solid fact that the kid had him that helped keep his urge under control. That and the accursed security!

‘ _I don’t need Torch. I don’t need the war. I don’t need my revenge._ ’ he said in his head, keeping up the mantra and taking deep breaths.

“ _Are you OK? You seem a little nervous._ ” Blade said.

Six startled and grabbed his top guns to keep a pair of his hands busy and twirled them. “ _Just glad to be out and in the action._ ” he said.

“ _Yeah, I know how that feels. At least you were able to walk around on your own two feet._ ” Blade chuckled.

“ _Yeah, there is that._ ” Six chuckled. “ _By the way, how is your new leg?_ ” he asked, fingering another gun. He was aware of his actions and could feel himself getting ready to strike Blade in the head.

“ _It’s fine. I got used to the toes at long last._ ” Blade said and his coat turned into wings to block a sudden attack from Six.

“ _I’m sorry! It’s not me!!_ ” Six said and pulled each gun out, cocked them and fired.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always loved cliff-hangers, but don't know if I did a good job on this one.


	50. It's The 50th Chapter

.

Blade willed his coat disarm Six Shooter but at the sound of the six guns being cocked he changed it to deflect and the coat shot forward and pushed all six arms upwards and the bullets went through the ventilation shaft. One bullet had gone through a few wires, disabling a few of the security measures and continued onward and crashed into a rusted bolt, cracking it.

Blade had the coat wrapped itself around Six the same way he was wrapped in spider webs back at the cabin. Nice and tight.

Six struggled to free himself and fell over, sending out vibrations on the vent's surface. Blade sent out a pulse to trail both directions on a three second interval to make sure he wouldn't be caught by surprise and then leaned over Six.

“ _The kid had a feeling about you, as did I, and it was only confirmed by the brother last night that someone has been pulling your strings._ ” Blade said and walked ahead of Six, hooked the collar of his coat and proceeded to drag his brother down the vent. “ _We agreed to let you out when the totems made a large scale attack so that you could stretch your legs for one. It also helped to give the kid some space to finish his project with Torch and it put a great distance between you and Torch._ ”

Six struggled to get loose. “ _What do you mean someone has been pulling my strings?_ ” Six asked, fighting with the coat as it got tighter around him.

“ _The kid found something inside you in the form of a red demon. Both of the brothers seem to know who this demon is because they kept saying it was such a girl._ ” Blade said and looked back to see the look on Six’s face.

“ _A GIRL demon?! I’m possessed by a GIRL?! SAY IT AIN’T SO!!_ ” Six sobbed.

“ _By the way the two brothers describe her, she planned this whole thing to get herself a husband. The only girl in a large family which she used to get whatever she wanted. The mother didn’t see any faults, just the fact that she was her daughter. The girl tricked one of her brothers into servicing her for her own goals. She sounds like a real piece of work._ ” Blade said. “ _And she apparently got the whole idea from some old man who tried to use children for his war._ ”

“ _Ugh! Maybe I ought be locked away until this . . . THING is out of me._ ” Six said. “ _Do you mind if I continue my mantra? Maybe I can draw it out._ ” Six asked.

“ _I s’pose. We’re safe enough for now._ ” Blade said.

“ _I don’t need Torch. I don’t need my war. I don’t need my revenge._ ” Six mumbled.

Blade thought the mantra a little weird but said nothing of it. It could possibly help draw the demon out with Six’s determination to leave Torch alone, finally. He reached the end of the vent and knocked on the metal guard. A black scorpion three times his length (45 inches long) came up and used its tail to drill out the screws and let him enter. Blade hopped out of the vent and let the scorpion take Six and carried him over to a work desk where another large scorpion grabbed Six by its tail and heaved him up onto the desk.

Blade was hoisted up by the two scorpions in a similar fashion and placed on the desk where he could retrieve his coat as a large dark brown tarantula crawled down from wall, stopping before what looked like some sort of shrine-temple-looking stone bed. The tarantula had to be two feet long. It grabbed Six from the scorpion and placed him on the stone bed.

“ _What’s going on?_ ” Six asked, feeling himself panicking. He could see the tarantula’s pincers and the fangs that were underneath. “ _You’re not gonna leave me here with these things, are you?_ ” Six asked, his voice quivering.

“ _For now, yeah, I need to get back out there._ ” Blade said and left through the vent again. “ _But I’ll be back._ ”

.

Jester and Tunneler were finishing up putting the halved scorpion back together when the lights went out, stopping their progress.

“ _Great, now how are we going to finish wielding this guy back together?_ ” Tunneler asked, putting his tools down.

Before Jester could reply they heard a screech near the entrance of the kitchen and went on the defensive. Tunneler signed to a mouse that he was going with Jester, grabbed a couple of scalpels and left.

“ _What was that?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _What?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _That thing you did with your hands._ ” Jester said.

“ _Oh, that’s sign language. It was a mandatory part of my medical classes because most of the little mice on the team are deaf._ ” Tunneler answered.

“ _Oh, what do you tell her?_ ” Jester asked, having learned the different sexes between the rodents.

“ _Just that I was going with you._ ” Tunneler said.

They heard the screech again but it was coupled with three more.

“ _You think we can take on four by ourselves?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Oh, yeah, sure, one for you three for me._ ” Jester answered, removing his katanas and spun them around.

“ _At least lend me your dowel._ ” Tunneler said and removed the wooden stick from Jester’s back.

The screech was heard again and they stood back to back, keeping up their guard when the emergency lights flickered back on, dousing everything back in a red light. But it seemed they were losing power because it began to flicker at irregular intervals, making it seem like there was red lightning flashing.

“ _Could this night get any more spooky?_ ” Jester asked and heard a loud screech from above and was attacked. He easily ran it through with his katana and kicked the dead carcass off when he was attacked from behind. He turned his left katana around so that the blade ran along the his arm, the dull edge lying under his arm and he elbowed the creature on his back. It let go and he did a high turn-kick to its head and threw a few silver eight-point stars at it, aiming for the head.

“ _Since when did you do any killing?_ ” Tunneler asked, fighting off two creatures with the dowel.

“ _Since I learned there was really no point in keeping these things alive._ ” Jester answered and sliced two creatures in half by crossing his blades in an outward motion.

Tunneler had been equipped with two scalpels for his defenses and stabbed each creature in the eyes, or somewhere on the head with it, and then swung the dowel downward with full force, managing to crack a few necks, but mostly just knocking them out long enough for Jester to get to them. He looked over at his little brother and watched him twirl one katana to have its blade run along his arm and whip it out like a bull whip against the last one, severing its head completely. The blood splash was a sight to behold to say the least. Jester was no longer the little weakling anymore, that was for sure.

He was about to say something when the red lights flickered, revealing three shadows coming around the corner. “ _Jester, we’ve got more coming._ ” he said quietly.

“ _I see them._ ” Jester replied and handed one katana over to Tunneler and took his dowel back.

The creatures turned the corner and had a brief stand-off with the two puppets, and their number was soon added by four.

“ _Cripes, we can’t handle seven by ourselves._ ” Tunneler stated.

But the red lightning showed another shadow coming down the corner. It walked on all fours, had a reptilian-dragon-like head, two large horns at the back of its head, four little ones along its jawline and small spikes on its head that went down its neck and tail, leaving its back bare for possible riding. It made a mechanical growl, catching the other totems attention and making them turn around.

Jester and Tunneler sighed in relief when they heard Torch’s familiar growl.

Only it wasn’t Torch that came around the corner, in fact the shadows showed just the new creature walking up to the totems. The totems stayed in their group, having no idea if this new creature was with them or against them. They screeched at it to intimidate it but the new creature just growled louder, its eyes lighting up in an orange glow, took a deep breath, opened its jaws wide and blew fire out at them, torching every single totem and melting them down to their feet.

Jester and Tunneler backed up and sought shelter from the fire and poised their weapons in defense as the new creature walked up to them. It stood about ten inches from the shoulder, two feet long from nose to tail, had a long, dinosaur-like tail with little spikes down the way and clawed feet as the clacking sounds on the tiled floor indicated.

The lights went out again, showing that the creature had eyes that greatly resembled Torch’s own. It stopped five inches away from them, a low mechanical growl like Torch’s emitting from it. When the lights lit up again, Jester noticed that it was wearing a collar and that there was a gold, rounded-rectangle tag attached to it.

He reached out to it carefully, smiling when the new creature lifted its head for him to reach it and read the tag. His face spun to his surprise expression. “ _Torch?_ ”

The creature nodded its head and barked.

“ _Oh my god, Torch, is that really you?_ ” Jester asked.

Torch nodded his head and pranced around in the kitchen in a playful manner.

“ _So, is this what you and the kid’s private project was about?_ ” he asked, reaching a hand out and Torch went to him and shoved his head under his palm. Jester started scratching behind one of the large horns on his head and Torch started trilling and rolled onto his back for a belly rub. Jester complied and started cooing.

“ _Jester, if you don’t mind, our hotel is under attack and you’re sitting here giving Torch a belly rub._ ” Tunneler said, but eventually joined his little brother in giving Torch a lot of affection.

“ _Who’s a good boy?_ ” Jester cooed. “ _Who’s a good boy? Did you set those nasty totems on fire? Yes, you did._ ”

.

Blade walked down a hallway sending out pulses every two seconds, making sure he was alone. He was told to head back to the second floor near the east elevator. He remembered that that elevator was broken, but he couldn’t fathom why he was being sent there when he wanted to be near Jester. He knew Jester could take care of himself and Tunneler knew how to fight pretty well, but he still worried. He had looked over Jester for sixty years now, he couldn’t just drop an old habit like that in a span of four months, no matter how much reassurances he got from the others.

At least the brother knew how he felt with his own protectiveness towards his own little brother. The brother had looked over the kid for nearly two hundred years and often caught himself getting too over-protective and would head out to the ocean afterwards. Blade sometimes joined him down on the beach when he had Jester on his mind. They would talk about them, practice a bit of magic, he would learn a new technique, and then they would fly around in the air for a while and head back once dawn broke.

He paused in his patrol when his pulse sent back an echo of ten totems heading his way near the hall of the broken elevator. ‘ _Oh, that’s why I’m here._ ’ he thought and quickened his pace. He made it too quick when he crashed right into Jester and Tunneler, landing on his hook in a certain area. He was very grateful to be a wooden puppet just then or else he would have been in great, terrible pain.

“ _Blade!_ ” Jester called out and helped his brothers up.

“ _You know, I have never been so glad to be made of wood just now._ ” Blade said, switching his knife to his hand and unhooked himself, causing Jester and Tunneler to burst out laughing. “ _Very nice, laugh at the hooked man._ ” Blade said in a sarcastic manner, but really, it was funny. He turned around to make sure the totems weren’t going to sneak up on them when he came face to face with a scales and bright orange eyes. He freaked and fell flat on his back and pointed his knife at it.

“ _Blade wait! Don’t! That’s Torch!_ ” Jester said, standing in front of the scaly creature with his arms out.

“ _Torch?! Wha- what do you mean it’s Torch?! Torch is with the kid!_ ” Blade yelled, standing up real quick and going face to face with Torch.

“ _It says so on his tag. Look._ ” Jester brought up the gold tag and showed Blade the name on it.

“ _Is it really Torch?_ ” Blade asked.

Torch nodded, waving his tail like a little puppy.

“ _Yeah, ain’t he cute! He still has his torch abilities. I think his fire is a lot hotter than the last one though because he--_ ” Jester was silenced when Blade placed his hand over his mouth and hissed at him, his sharp eyes sticking out.

“ _There are about ten totems heading this way and I don’t need you making a loud ruckus just yet._ ” he whispered harshly.

Jester removed Blade’s hand none too gently. “ _The hell didn’t you say so?_ ” he whispered back just as harshly and kept close to Torch.

The red flickering light cast the totems' shadows on the wall ahead of them and they got into positions.

The totems came around and looked around. The puppets waited for all of them to be halfway down the hall before they sprang into action. Torch covered the end and set any that ran in his direction on fire. Blade sprung out from a shadowed area and went, “Have at you!” and swished his blade around, slicing, dicing and smiting away. Jester popped out shortly after him and used his katanas to decapitate and de-limb the remaining totems. 

“ _Is that all of them?_ ” he asked.

The lights all suddenly came back on, brightened, flickered, some bulbs busted and then went out again.

“ _I don’t think so._ ” Blade said and headed towards the elevator.

“ _By the way, what happened to your coat?_ ” Jester asked, sheathing his katanas and followed Blade, Tunneler and Torch as well.

“ _It’s wrapped around Six._ ” Blade answered.

The lights flickered on again and flashed like a strobe light before plunging everything in darkness again.

“ _I think the brothers are working on Six right now._ ” Blade said.

“ _What are they doing to him?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _It seems that someone on the outside has been using Six as their own personal lackey. Saying he’s been possessed or something by some demon or demoness and has been in control of him for who knows how long._ ” Blade answered.

Jester thought about that for a moment. “ _Could that be the reason why he wants Torch so bad?_ ” he asked.

“ _It could be. Whether Six himself or that thing inside him want Torch is entirely debatable._ ” Blade said and reached the broken elevator’s doors. “ _Um, . . . how are we suppose to get it open?_ ” he asked.

Torch’s eyes glowed and out shot some lasers and he cut out an entrance for them.

“ _Ooh, that’s a new feature._ ” Jester cooed and patted Torch’s neck.

Blade peeked in and looked up at the dark, empty shaft. He could hear the echoes of some of the hotel’s hidden rooms and then he looked down to the equally dark abyss. “ _Okay, we got in, now what?_ ” he asked and brought out his screen. Jester and Tunneler did the same. Blade scrolled through his inbox for anything new, looked down in the abyss and checked again. ‘ _Wish I had my coat right about now._ ’ he thought.

.

Up on the fourth floor, a folded black coat came to life and slithered down and through ventilation to reach its owner.

“Blade’s getting stronger if he can summon his coat from this distance.” said Chug and ran another scan over Six Shooter who was strapped to a metal slab, all six arms and his legs were held down by leather straps so that he wouldn’t move too much. He was wearing a white medical gown that went halfway down to his legs, all of his clothes and belongings were put inside a little popsicle stick box.

“Yes, he is.” Kokiri replied and went back to sorting through Six Shooter’s mind. “You ready?” he asked.

Six nodded and braced himself for another painful run-through.

.

.


	51. Battle Conclusion/Meeting

.

Blade looked down the shaft again trying to figure out a way to get down without hurting any of his brothers or himself. The thought of being bed-ridden under the kid’s supervision cured him of just jumping in like he used to. He turned back to his brothers when he felt something wrap itself around him like a snake and he panicked, walking backwards and fell into the dark abyss.

“ _Blade!!_ ” yelled Jester and ran over to the edge of the entrance and looked down. “ _Blade, what are you doing?!_ ” he shouted, hearing his echo for a few seconds before he felt a gust of wind on his face, and then another and another before he heard the whoosh of wings.

“ _Pull me up!_ ” Blade shouted and reached a hand out.

The lights flickered back on and Jester saw Blade’s hand grabbing around at the entrance before two black claws clung to the floor and pulled him up and out of the shaft.

Blade looked at the thing that attacked him and heaved a sigh in relief. “ _I like this coat, but it just scared the HELL out of me!_ ” he growled and looked back into the elevator, ignoring the snickering of his brothers and jumped in, willing his coat to grow additional appendages so he could carry them down. His coat grew six octopus arms, one wrapped around Tunneler and Jester, another pair grabbed Torch and the remaining three lowered him back in. He clicked a flash light icon button on his screen so that they could see.

“ _Oh, this is much better._ ” Jester smiled as they descended into the dark abyss.

“ _Easy for you to say. You haven’t got two swords and a stick pressing against your back._ ” Tunneler grumbled.

“ _Uh, yes, I do actually._ ” Jester said.

“ _But you’re padded._ ” Tunneler countered and shifted to make himself more comfortable.

“ _I am not._ ” Jester whined.

“ _You are too._ ” Tunneler replied.

“ _Am not._ ”

“ _Are too._ ”

“ _Am not._ ”

“ _Are too._ ”

“ _Am not._ ”

“ _Are too._ ”

“ _Am--_ ”

“ _Will you two knock it off! We’re supposed to be in stealth mode._ ” Blade grumbled.

“ _Well, he started it._ ” Jester pouted.

“ _Did not._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Did to._ ”

“ _Did not._ ”

“ _Did to._ ”

“ _Did n--_ ”

Blade willed his coat to cover his brother’s mouths and smack them on the head with the flat side of his blade. “ _Can’t exactly be sneaky when you two bicker all the time._ ” he hissed.

Jester and Tunneler both ‘HMPH!’ and kept quiet.

Blade quietly sighed in relief and enjoyed the peace before, “ _ACHOO!_ ”

Torch sneezed and set the coat on fire. Blade panicked and tried to put it out, accidentally cutting the added appendages and having them all free fall down the elevator. In a state of panic, Blade had set off a panic alarm with his magic.

.

Kokiri was about to place his hands on Six Shooter’s face when he had a terrible migraine.

“What’s the matter?” Chug asked, pausing in his scans.

“Oh-h-h, I have so much work to do with Blade.” Kokiri groaned and massaged his temple. “I’ll be right back.” he said and left the room in the same manner as Blade’s coat.

“ _Blade has said your brother can change forms, is there anything he can not do?_ ” Six asked.

“Yeah, harm me or Innocent souls.” Chug said and looked over his recorded readings. “I think you can have a break for a few minutes while I go over these.” he said and released the restraints.

Six Shooter sat up and rubbed his wrists. “ _How long before you two can get this thing out of me?_ ” he asked.

“I really don’t know.” Chug answered. “I mean, we can sense souls and detect human presence, but we don’t really know much about it. Number One could probably handle it in snap, but she’s busy enough already.” Chug said and collected his data and left to a private room.

Six Shooter got up and paced around the clear box he was in. It didn’t have bars but it still served as a jail. He didn’t mind it this time. It was better than being ignored and watching the others have all the fun and getting into mischief and learning new things. He looked over to the screen that kept an eye on his brothers’ locations. There was a map of the hotel’s floor plans and another . . . vertical . . . map. The kid had called it a 3D blueprint. It was like a blue-print of the building as it stood, if that made any sense. He looked over to where Blade, Jester, Tunneler and Torch were, trying his best to ignore Torch’s name. The little dots showed them falling rapidly down an elevator shaft and were getting close to the ground floor. By their speed he guessed that they were free falling.

‘ _Jester!_ ’ he thought in a panic. If Jester fell from a high height, he was most likely to shatter into pieces.

Then their descent slowed down almost halting completely between the first and second floor. He blew out a sigh of relief, placing a hand on his chest.

.

“What the devil happened that you had to give me a migraine?” Kokiri gritted, holding all the little Toulons in the tangled coat. Well, it was more of a piece of smoking cloth now than a coat.

“ _Gesundheit._ ” Jester said, pointing at Torch.

“Torch sneezed and set the coat on fire and Blade panicked.” Tunneler answered.

Kokiri held up the cloth where Blade was clinging for dear life.

“ _I love this coat but I HATE IT AT THE SAME TIME!!_ ” Blade shouted in a sob.

“You’ll get used to it eventually.” Kokiri said and floated down to the first floor. His phone beeped, he opened the doors and set them down and answered his phone. “Hello? . . . . uh-huh, . . . . uh-huh, . . ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . uh-huh, . . . uh-huh, okay, bye.” Kokiri placed his phone back in his pocket, waved at the little Toulons, gave Jester a long, slender wrapped item, closed the doors and flew back up the elevator.

“ _What’s that?_ ” Tunneler asked, poking Jester’s gift.

Jester slapped his hand away and removed the wrappings and found a little note. “ _’You don’t need the dowel anymore, here’s the gift I promised you.’_ ” he read and removed the rest of the wrapping to reveal a shiny gold javelin with a jester head. It’s face was even split up in three separate parts just like his. He squealed in delight. “ _Here you go, Tunneler._ ” Jester grinned, giving Tunneler the dowel on his back and replaced it with the new shiny javelin.

“ _Nice, now shall we continue onwards?_ ” Blade said and straightened his coat and walked down the hallways towards the lounge area.

“ _So, what we are supposed to do once we get there?_ ” Tunneler asked. “ _I have patients that need tending to._ ”

“ _I don’t know. I just follow the brother’s orders._ ” Blade said and stopped dead in his tracks in stunned realization, making the other two bump into him.

“ _What’d you stop for?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _I just follow the brother’s orders._ ” Blade repeated.

“ _Yes, you said that._ ” Tunneler said, ignoring Jester and his new javelin that he was twirling around.

“ _I follow the brother’s orders._ ” Blade said with more conviction.

“ _So what? He is your mentor for your magic._ ” Jester said, putting his javelin away.

Blade turned around and looked at them in the eye. “ _I f-o-l-l-o-w the brother’s o-r-d-e-r-s._ ” he grounded out.

“ _W-h-y are you t-a-l-k-i-n-g like that?_ ” Jester asked.

Blade stopped talking and waited for his statement to catch up with them.

“ _Oh, OH-H-H, I get it._ ” Jester smiled and his head spun to his surprised expression. “ _So-o-o, the brother’s our master?_ ” he asked.

“ _Well, this is a first._ ” Tunneler said, crossing his arms. “ _Having two masters and yet we’re all still together._ ”

“ _How in the world did this happen? Usually we all sit together and discuss whoever bought us off at an auction or from some antique store. How could we have fallen under their command without even noticing it? How could I have done that?_ ” Blade asked, starting to panic a bit.

“ _Blade, calm down. At least we know they’re good . . . most of the time._ ” Jester said, mumbling the last bit. “ _And do you really want to separate Torch from the one master who’s paid any attention to him if you refuse this?_ ”

Blade looked over at Torch who looked back and blinked his orange eyes. He looked down at his blade and switched it to his shiny hematite hand.

“ _They give us things that we can actually use instead of just a new paint job and clothes._ ” Jester said. “ _And they taught us how to fight and properly defend ourselves and more importantly, they can understand us without getting frustrated from guessing games._ ”

“ _Look, maybe after all this is done, we can ask the brothers to give us some privacy for this talk and we can weigh the pros and cons then._ ” Tunneler suggested.

“ _Yeah, that’ll work._ ” Blade said and continued to head towards the lounge room. But now he was losing his focus on the battle.

‘Calm yourself, you’re going to need your wits about you.’ he heard the brother’s voice in his head.

‘ _Easier said than done. I just discovered something and it’s bothering me._ ’ Blade replied.

‘Would you like me to block it for you so you can focus on the battle?’ the brother asked

‘ _Yes, thank you._ ’ Blade answered and thought back to the last ten seconds. He stopped momentarily in his tracks. “ _What was I doing?_ ” he asked himself and thought for a moment. “ _Oh,_ ” and continued walking.

Jester and Tunneler looked at each other wondering what that was about, shrugged their shoulders and continued to follow Blade.

The four of them came across Pinhead armed to the nines like Rambo (but without the red bandana) at the archway to the lounge and asked him what he was doing there.

“ _The brothers sent me, saying you guys might need me._ ” he said and gave an automatic rifle to Tunneler who cocked it and switched off the safety. “ _They said something else but I forgot what it was, I wasn’t paying any attention._ ” he said and gently pushed the door open a smidge. Enough for them to squeeze in and then he closed it and it locked by itself with an electric screen.

“ _Did they just trap us in here?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _We are going to battle the rest of the totems in here. The screens is just so they can’t get out._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _But what about us? What if we can’t get out?_ ” Tunneler asked, lowering his rifle a bit.

“ _This is the kid’s own security. I saw him set up the programs and he told me how they all worked._ ” Pinhead answered.

Tunneler was about to speak some more but stopped and they all turned around when they heard screeching coming from every entrance of the room. Blade motioned to everyone where to hide and when to come out. They all took their places and waited.

The doors in the archway slowly opened up with a creepy, mysteriously alluring creak. The kind that arouses curiosity and entices poor saps inside to meet their doom. Jester tried not to laugh at the theatrics. He knew a move like that would have enticed him if the kid hadn’t insisted he watch movies. This was a classic.

Blade saw the totems shadows on the doors as it creaked open and he pointed at Torch. Torch nodded and trotted off to a different section in the shadows, making sure to bump into something along the way.

Torch was very happy with is new body. Master had given him so many additions that he kind of wished he was back in his old body with them. Master had given him his regular eyes so that his brothers would know it was him. He also included night vision, heat reading vision and lasers. He put his flame inside of his belly and gave him a more animalistic body that he felt very comfortable in. During the times he’d been awake and snuck away from his brothers he would occasionally run around on all fours and bang his head against walls or trees. He rammed against a rock once and got a headache from that and he didn’t do it again.

But the down side was that he would get dirt, fallen leaves and pebbles stuck in his flamethrower and he’d have to ask for help to get them out. Jester was the main one that would help him. Blade and Tunneler would help every now and again, but it was mostly Jester who helped him. Six Shooter would just laugh and tease him endlessly and call him a klutz, saying he’s got two left feet and all sorts of torment.

He focused back on the task at hand when his targets came into view and crouched low to the ground. He shut his eyes off and switched to the night vision one.

Tunneler saw the last of the totems enter the room and the doors slammed shut, getting all of their attention and that’s when Torch set off a stream of fire. The fire caught the couches and a quarter of the totems. He jumped up to the piano and fired his rifle, getting another quarter of the totems.

Pinhead fired a cross bow into the air and cut a hidden trap, getting two-thirds of the totems trapped in a peanut butter paste that was dumped onto them.

Blade cut a nylon braid and dropped a few cages, some broken glass shards and a tub of jello on a handful of the totems.

The fire alarm went off and shrouded everything in the white flame retardant fog, making it the perfect battle ground for Jester who went berserk with his arsenal. The other four remained where they were, knowing better than to get in Jester’s way when he went into a frenzy.

After five minutes the fans turned on and the windows opened to let the fog clear out. Once cleared they saw Jester fighting with the last three which was quickly won within a few seconds when he beheaded them.

Pinhead walked over to Tunneler. “ _You know, Jester’s starting to scare me a little._ ” he said quietly.

“ _Yeah, I know what you mean._ ” Tunneler said. Jester hardly ever killed in battle even when they were set out to do killings. Jester was the one who would cut cables, telephone wires and security systems whenever they were sent out on a job. Sometimes he would join them of his own free will and they never questioned it because they knew he would stay out of trouble and stay safe. But now with his new martial art skills, he was starting to become a little wild.

Blade noticed this as well and didn’t like what Jester was doing. ‘ _Are more totems coming?_ ’

‘No, there’s very few left in the building but the traps will take care of that. Did you still want to hold your little meeting?’ he heard the brother’s voice say in his head.

‘ _What meeting?_ ’' The memory about the brother possibly being the new master came up and he looked over at Jester again who was cleaning his katanas of the blood. ‘ _Yeah, is Six Shooter going to be okay? He needs to be here as well for this._ ’

‘Sure, I’ll send him down.’

Blade switched his knife for his hand and raised his fist, signaling they were done and sat down at the fireplace. Torch burned all the couches so there was no comfortable place to sit.

Pinhead, Tunneler, Jester and Torch all came up to the fireplace.

“ _Is the battle really over? I was just getting started._ ” Jester whined.

“ _Yeah, it’s over. We’re having a meeting as soon as Six Shooter gets here._ ” Blade said and dusted his shoes. “ _In the meantime, I suggest we clean ourselves up._ ”

.

Kokiri prepped a little brown megalograptus for Six Shooter to ride down to the lounge. It was already pre-programmed so all he had to do was steer it. Six was informed of the security measures that had been taken should he try to give them the slip, he was annoyed about it all, but it served to keep the thing inside him in check and Kokiri sent him on his way.

Six was surprised that they only gave him one meg to escort him down to the lounge.

.

Blade and the others were watching Jester pace in the lounge, swinging his swords around and kicking things. They could tell Jester was wanting another fight.

They all looked up when they heard the trilling of a meg coming in for a landing and saw Six Shooter arriving. He passed easily through the barrier set up and landed by the fireplace.

“ _Okay, boss, we’re all here and accounted for. ‘Cept for Torch, as usual. What'cha got for us?_ ” Six asked.

“ _What do you guys think of the two brothers?_ ” Blade asked, deciding it was best to get their opinions now instead of later.

“ _I like them._ ” Jester said, raising his hand in the air.

“ _I s’pose they’re all right._ ” Pinhead said with a shrug.

“ _Yeah, me too._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _They’re still working on me, so I don’t know.” Six said. “But we most certainly know your opinion of the brother, don’t we?_ ” Six clicked, nudging Jester who snickered. “ _Why you askin’?_ ” Six asked.

“ _Well, I’m asking because I just recently found out that I blindly follow the brother’s orders without a second thought._ ” Blade said, getting shocked reactions from Pinhead, Six and Torch.

“ _So you’re claiming the brother as our master?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _I don’t know. I mean, they did great for us but there are a few things we probably could have done without._ ” Blade said.

“ _Like what?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Let’s name all the good things first._ ” Tunneler suggested, not wanting Jester to know that his new martial arts skill was probably one of the few things they could do without.

“ _Okay, well, first off, the kid has pretty much adopted Torch. I find that a good thing._ ” Jester said.

“ _The kid’s been teaching me computer skills and mechanics._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _I learned about medicine and mechanics as well._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _The kid gave me a new leg and a proper hand._ ” Blade said.

“ _And that fab-u-lous coat._ ” Six chuckled, making the others laugh as well.

“ _The brother gave you magic and has been teaching you how to utilize it properly._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _They taught us martial arts too. And don’t think I don’t know what you guys are thinking. It makes me a little wild, I’ll grant you that, but you try just standing by and watch as the rest of you get into the deep action. There’s a lot more to fighting than hand-to-hand combat you know._ ” Jester said. “ _And I may have snuck in some Monster in my systems earlier._ ” he mumbled, tapping his finger tips together.

Blade narrowed his eyes. _“Jester!_ ” he called out in an appalled, chastising tone.

“ _What? The stuff’s good._ ” Jester giggled and took off running when Blade chased after him.

The others watched them chase each other around the room, but Torch’s electronic senses had him looking at the meg and then growling at it.

“ _Wha-?_ ” Six looked over at the dog-reptile creature and took a really good look at it. “Torch?” he questioned. 

Torch responded by growling louder and stood on all fours, hunched over and with his ridges raised.

Pinhead, Tunneler and Six looked at the meg and backed up as it began to twitched and jerked around.

“ _Uh, Blade? Jester?_ ”

Blade and Jester stopped in their tracks when they heard the meg scream, writhe around a moment before it’s electronic blue lights turned red and gave off a thrumming hiss, looked at the puppets by the fireplace and attacked with it’s claws and tail.

Pinhead deflected its claws with the fire poker, Tunneler tried shooting at it with his automatic, Torch tried to jump on its back and severe the tail with Blade and Jester’s help but the megalograptus managed to fight them all off and send them flying into the walls except Torch.

Torch had his teeth sunk in the tail and the meg slammed it down as hard as it could and repeated the process four more times before Torch finally let go and rolled over to dodge the tail, stood up and ran off towards the door. His senses picked up another electric energy and he ran towards it to seek shelter. The meg followed and jumped in the air and landed in front of Torch and swung its tail down with full force. Torch managed to dodge it again and ran off in another direction.

The meg turned around and flew after Torch, closing in before a light purple misty-ish lightning blast came out of nowhere and hit the meg right on and disabled it.

Jester ran after Torch with his katanas out and stood in front of him. The rest of the puppets looked towards the opened doors and saw a tall man dressed entirely in black. He had black eyes, a pale complexion, what appeared to be a cape and was pointing a little stick at the meg.

Six Shooter gaped. “ _Grand-pappy?_ ”

.

.


	52. Battle Ended/Surprise

.

At the start of the battle . . . . 

Chug Yamazaki was finishing up the final touches on Torch’s new body when his phone buzzed. He picked it up, smiled and sent a quick reply back then went back to fixing Torch.

“ _Who was that?_ ” Torch asked.

“A brother I adopted about forty years ago.” Chug answered. “I asked him if he could help us with Six Shooter. He knows Mind Magic very well.” Chug answered and grabbed the last tool he needed. “All done. Would you like to see yourself?” 

Torch nodded and stood up. His legs shook a moment before he fell back down. He stood up again, more slowly this time to get a feel of his new posture. He staggered a bit before falling back down again and looked at his master.

“You’re a four legged drake, remember? You walk on all fours now, not two.” Chug chuckled, helped him stand up properly. “There you go, now, try taking a few steps.”

Torch tensed up when master removed his hands to let him stand on his own but tried to take his first step like master asked. He thought back to the times when he used to run around on all fours by himself and tried it that way. He raised one front leg and moved it forward, lost his balance and stumbled the rest of the way down the desk. Master caught him before he fell over.

“Come on, you have to keep trying if you want to help your brothers in the field and show yourself off.” Chug said with a chuckle and assisted Torch for a couple of minutes before Torch finally walked on his own.

“There you go, that’s my wee bairn.”

Torch wagged his tail in happiness, glad that his master still called him his wee bairn. He practiced some more and an hour later he was running, jumping and trotting around the room.

Chug was laughing at his antics and patted his lap for Torch to come. Torch came over and jumped into his lap, panting.

“Here, I made this for you so that the others will know it’s you and not harm you.” he said, and let Torch sniff at the little dark blue collar that had a shiny gold, rounded-rectangular tag on it. There were five bold letters on it and Torch saw that it was his name. “Lift your head for me so I can put it on.” Chug said wrapped it around Torch’s neck and clicked it in place, adjusted the size so it wasn’t too tight but not too loose either and scratched Torch’s head. He lifted him up from under the arms and brought him close to his face. “That’s my boy.” he cooed and nuzzled noses with him. Torch closed his eyes and trilled.

.

Six Shooter rubbed his eyes and looked at the newcomer again, not believing what he was seeing. “ _Grand-pappy?_ ” he asked, walking over.

“Good Lord, what the blazes happened in here?” the newcomer asked and spotted a six armed grinning cowboy walking towards him, chuckling a villain’s chuckle, pointed his stick at it and mumbled something.

Six Shooter stopped when the newcomer pointed his stick and heard the others’ gasps.

“Hmm, Afzel. Not the one I’m looking for.” the newcomer said and raised his stick at the others to repeat his process but stopped when the words over the six armed cowboy changed to that of Six Shooter. “Six Shooter. So, you’re the one the kid wants me to see.” He put his wand away and had a look around the room.

“Hang on a minute, I’ll get to you in a second.” he said and brought out his phone and started texting. Or he was making a call. “Kid, I’m here in what appears to be a wreck room. It’s a complete mess. You’ve got these . . . things stuck in peanut butter paste and jello and the whole room is covered in flame retardant dust. What do you want me to do?” he asked, looking around at the room again and located others that were strategically placed around the room where they wouldn’t be covered in the dust.

“You want me to what? . . . A puppet? . . . Not puppets? . . . Really? How interesting. . . . Alright, but I may have to relocate to another room. This one is just too messy and I stand out like a sore thumb. I’m going blind from the brightness.” he said with a laugh. “Yes, . . . Oh, one of your megs was going after one of your little drakes so I zapped it. . . . Seems like an odd request, but I’ll do it. I’ll see you later, bye.” His phone beeped and he put it back in his pocket and took out his wand again.

The little puppets watched as he waved his little stick in the air, mumbled something under his breath and thrusted it towards the broken meg. A second later some rope came out of the stick and wrapped itself around the meg, tied itself tight. The newcomer walked over to it and picked it up.

“Now, I don’t know what the kid is pulling, but he said you’re to go back to the attic room and I’m supposed to follow because I have no idea where he is.” he said addressing the room. He watched as five puppet looking figurines and the little drake walk over to the open doors and lead the way up to the attic room.

“ _What do you suppose the brothers are doing bringing another stranger here and revealing us to him?_ ” Jester whispered.

“ _I don’t know. Who knows what goes on in those brains of theirs._ ” Blade said, not bothering to whisper.

“ _Why’d you call him grand-pappy, Six?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Because he looks just like my great-grandfather. Every detail. The black cape, or robe, I think, the little stick, black eyes, pale complexion. But his voice is the most memorable. A deep baritone that when he spoke in a seductive manner, the ladies would just swoon head over heels. So my mother and grandmother told me._ ” Six answered.

“ _Head over heels, huh? I’d like to see if he can seduce the brother._ ” Pinhead chuckled.

“ _Why would he be seducing the brother?_ ” Blade asked, hearing his brothers snickering. “ _No, really, why? If this new guy knows the kid, then he’s got to know the brother as well._ ” he said.

“ _Fair point. But if he didn’t know the brother, do you think he’d try to seduce him?_ ” Jester asked, grinning his mischievous grin. 

“ _I don’t see why not. The brother does look like--_ ” Blade stopped and slapped Jester with his hat who started laughing. “ _It’s not like that!_ ” he said, making the others laugh even more.

They continued to make jokes on Blade, never minding the newcomer behind them. Torch kept looking back at him though, wondering if this was the 'dopted brother Master was talking about. If he was and he was Six Shooter’s grand-pappy, then they might no longer have to be under the will of some master who would use them as weapons, or put on lame shows for the others to perform in for money, or abandon them again. They’d be a proper family.

If this was Six Shooter’s grand-pappy and the ‘dopted brother was related to Master through ‘doption, . . . . Torch snorted and shook his head trying to figure things out on his own.

Jester stopped and looked at Torch who seemed to be having some kind of attack. “ _Torch, are you ok?_ ” he asked, walking over to calm him down.

“ _Is that really Torch?_ ” Six asked.

“ _Yeah, his tag says so._ ” Blade said.

“ _Oh, this must’ve been the secret project he and the kid were doing._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Torch, calm down, we’re going back and if this guy tries anything against the kid we can take care of him easily._ ” Jester said and patted Torch’s neck when he finally calmed down.

Blade looked up at the newcomer to see how was reacting to a group of living puppets. The newcomer didn’t seem fazed and he wasn’t surprised. The kid dabbled in cybernetics and robotics so he probably thinks the puppets were just a group of cybernetic toys like the kid’s velociraptors.

“Fellas, if you don’t mind, can we continue on our way? I’d like to see my adopted brother before I have to leave for Scotland.” the newcomer said, leaning down to their level and getting all of their attention when he said brother. “. . .What?” he asked.

“ _Did he just say he wants to see his brother?_ ” Pinhead asked, pointing at the newcomer.

“ _Brother? I thought there was just the two of them._ ” Jester said, prompting a questioning from the others.

“ _Guys! Guys!_ ” Blade shouted, raising his arms up in the air. “ _We can ask them when we get back to the attic room and the sooner we get there the sooner we can ask._ ” he said and they took off at a run.

The newcomer ran to catch up with them, wishing he could just use his wand. But with the kid’s security he didn’t want to risk getting caught in a trap. He tried to keep up with the little guys but they were surprisingly fast. He’d lost them a couple of times but they made sure to find him and keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t get lost.

He slowed down when the little ones stopped at a closed door and entered through a smaller one. The one in the black ensemble with a hook on his left hand knocked on the door before following the others. He knocked on the door himself and entered when he heard the lock click.

“Panther!” smiled Chug and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Hey, kid.” Panther grunted and was released once his spine cracked and took a deep breath. “Cripes, you haven’t hugged me like that since the Academy days.” he said and took another deep breath.

“Well, I haven’t seen you in forever! Not since we took that so-called Dark Lord and his lot up to another planet. How’s Junior, by the way? How’s school? Did you find yourself a girl yet? How was the trip?” Chug asked in quick recession.

Panther took another deep breath and straightened his clothes. “Junior’s fine, the school’s fine, yes, I found a girl and the trip was BOR-R-RING!” Panther answered, groaning loudly on the last one. “I’d have been here sooner if you just told me where you were. Instead I had to ride an airplane for ten hours with nothing to do except figure out where I’m going for my hon-” Panther covered his mouth with both hands, not wanting his brother hear him say the word. But it was too late, the kid had that sparkle in his eyes.

“Honeymoon? You got married?” Chug smiled and squeezed the life out of him, squealing.

“No, I didn’t. I just proposed.” Panther wheezed and was dropped to the floor.

“Good, because I would have done a lot worse than squeeze you to death if you didn’t invite me to the wedding.” Chug said and scooped him back in a hug. “But I’m so happy for you! My little brother’s getting married!” he squealed in a high pitch tone. “Let me do all the planning. Or if you don’t want me to I can do the catering, or the fashion. Maybe design your bride’s gown--”

“Whoa, whoa, Kid, slow down.” Panther said.

“Sorry, I just miss you.” Chug said and wrapped his arms around Panther’s head in a snuggle.

“Yeah, me too. Now can you let me go or am I gonna suffocate?” Panther asked in a muffled voice.

Chug let him go and straightened his robes. “Sorry."

“It’s alright, now what did you call me here for?” Panther asked.

“Me and Kegs have a problem with one of the little Toulons here. He’s been possessed by a spoiled ginger princess who’s still obsessed with Junior.” Chug answered.

“A spoiled ginger princess who’s still obsessed with . . . No,” Panther said and was starting to smile.

“Yeah,”

“No!”

“Yeah!”

“She’s the one who stole your potion?!”

“Oh yeah, the little red weasel herself.” Chug said with a big grin.

“Oh, my god!” Panther smiled and laughed.

Chug saw Blade waving his arms in the air and was hissing incessantly. “Oh, hold on. I had to take the ear piece out to fit my radio in.” Chug said and searched his pockets taking out all sorts of stuff. 

The puppets and Panther all watched as Chug took out a pair of scissors, duck tape, a tool chest, several TV remotes, candles, fob watches, crayons, markers, copic markers, paint tubes, paint brushes, alarm clocks, a few doves and pigeons, a duck, a couple of chickens, cow horns, pencil cases, notebooks, notepads, rulers, canned cat and dog food, shoe polish containers, little sketch books, a dozen or so snakes, some shoes, a cosmetics case, sewing kits, traveling medical kits, soda cans and bottles, frozen ice bags full of meat and fish, hygienic products, bags of candy, spare wires and broken phones, flowers, bouquets, Christmas lights, eating utensils, salt and pepper shakers, a bottle of soy sauce, bags of coffee beans, wallets, a silver disc, bags of coins, Christmas bells, . . . .

“I know I have it somewhere.” he mumbled, pulling out a ball of string. 

“Did you check your collar?” Panther asked.

Chug felt around his collar and found the earpiece. “Oh, there it is.” he smiled and motioned for Blade to start talking.

“ _\--la-la-la-la, Can you hear me now?_ ” Blade asked.

“Yes, what do you want?” Chug asked.

“ _You took so long I forgot!_ ” Blade said in a slight frustrated tone.

“ _Who is that guy?!_ ” Jester asked, pointing his katana at the one called Panther. 

“This is Panther, my adopted brother. I adopted him as my little brother when I was fourteen.” Chug answered.

“Even though I was a year older than you.” Panther said.

“Technically, yeah.” Chug said. “Though if you really want to get very techincal,”

“No thanks, I’m glad that you did. You saved me from a life time of torment. If you and your brother hadn’t gotten me out of that place I never would have taken Junior under my wing and he would have wound up being a sacrificial lamb for that old fool.” Panther said.

“But luckily he wasn’t and you did take him. And the look on his godfather’s face when he turned him down.” Chug chuckled. “I’m so glad I taught him how to speak newspaper.”

“Yeah, listen, we can reminisce later after we’ve dealt with whatever problem you have. Shall we?” Panther asked and stood up.

“Yeah, go into that room and I’ll be there in a moment.” Chug said and stood up as well. “You ready Six?” he asked, grabbing him around his middle.

“ _Not really._ ” Six answered and they disappeared through a forest green door that had a golden dragon head knocker.

“ _Pinhead, do you know how to work his computers?_ ” Blade immediately asked.

Pinhead opened up a laptop and started pressing buttons. He connected it to a projector and they all watched the kid put Six down on a black marble slab and strap him in with leather straps. Panther stood in front of him, the brother to Six’s left and the kid on Six’s right. There was a fourth member who was dressed in black and wore a wide brim black stetson. This person stood at Six’s head and placed their hands around his head but didn’t touch him.

They watched as Panther pointed his stick at Six and then Six started to seize up, balling up his fists. The brother walked around behind Panther and placed his hands on Panther’s head. The kid started setting up what looked to be an apothecary table and started working on various objects; grinding, mashing, stirring and curing and started placing things around Six Shooter. The fourth person just stood there, keeping their hands around Six’s head.

Pretty soon Six started to writhe around and pull at his restraints. The kid started moving at a faster rate, placing items around Six and stirring something in a black pot. The brother fanned his tail out and they watched as it divided itself into six tails. But each one was different. There was an ocean blue one at the far end, then a forest green one next to that, then a scaly-reptilian one with a scorpion’s stinger, a pure white one, stormy cloud grey and a fiery red one as the last tail. The tails rose up as one like a peacock’s tail and the ends all pointed at Six Shooter.

Six Shooter started pulling harder at his restraints then his back arched and they could only imagine him screaming at the top of his lungs.

Torch’s mechanical growl caught their attention and the turned to see him growling at the forest green door, his ridges raised. They turned back at the screen and groaned when they got a blank screen. Pinhead tried to reconnect it but it wouldn’t come on. They decided to watch Torch instead, since he seemed to know what was going on, but all he did was growl, bark a few times and blew smoke out of his nostrils. But he mostly just growled, glaring at the door with his red eyes.

They soon heard a muffled explosion and the forest green door started to swell. Torch began whimpering and started backing up toward’s the kid’s room. A second later he raised his head and howled for five seconds and then just stared at the door.

“ _What do you suppose he senses?_ ” Jester asked.

Blade shrugged. He tried using his magic to get in on the details as well, but he couldn’t. He figured the room was blocked from outside magic.

Pinhead remembered what the kid had said about magic being like electricity. Maybe Torch could sense the magic going on. Magic that dealt with the soul was quite powerful. Blade had magic, maybe he could help with his theory. “ _I think Torch senses their magic._ ” he said.

“ _Huh? How do you mean?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _The kid told me about the securities against Six when Torch was sick. He said the entire design was based on Six from his height, his weight, his physical structure and his magic._ ” Pinhead answered.

“ _How can computers detect magic?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _The kid said that magic was like electricity. That the whole world was surrounded in some kind of field._ ” Pinhead thought back to the conversation. “ _An Electro-Magnetic Field, EMF for short. Most of his security have a certain level of EMF and if it changes it goes off._ ”

“ _That’s an interesting theory. How are you going to test it?_ ” Blade asked, and soon had six pair of eyes on him. “ _Wha- me?_ ” he asked.

“ _You’re the only one of us able to use magic._ ” Jester said.

“ _What about you? You have magic as well._ ” Blade said.

“ _Yeah, but I can’t tap into it._ ” Jester said.

“ _Just send out a pulse or something and we’ll see if Torch will sense you._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Alright, but have him blind folded. I want to be absolutely sure about this._ ” Blade said and looked around the room for a good hiding spot.

Jester walked over to Torch, fishing out a silk ribbon from the pile of stuff the kid left behind. “ _Torch, how about we play a game of hide-and-go-seek? Blade’s gonna go hide_ _and you go find him, sound fun?_ ” Jester asked.

Torch didn’t move a muscle, still watching the door.

“ _Torch?_ ” Jester asked, tapping his shoulder. “ _Torch?_ ”

Tunneler looked around the room, an occurrence just now occurring to him. The room was awfully quiet. Shouldn’t there be some kind of noise in the room? “ _Where are the birds?_ ” he asked.

“ _Huh?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _The birds. The chickens, the doves, the pigeons. The kid pulled them out of his pockets, remember? There’s no clucking, no cooing, not even a quack._ ” Tunneler said.

The others looked at the pile of stuff on the floor and remembered seeing some animals being taken out of the kid’s pockets as well and realized Tunneler was right.

“ _There’s a chicken!_ ” Pinhead said, pointing at the pile and took a closer look at it. It was alive, for sure, but it was oddly remaining still. He looked up and realized it was staring at the door. He spotted another chicken and it too was staring at the door.

Blade found all the snakes on the bed, intending to hide under the pillows and saw them staring at the door as well.

Jester found the pigeons and doves on the headboard and they too were staring at the door. “ _They’re all staring at the door._ ” he said.

.

“ _Okay, this is starting to creep me out._ ” Blade said after twenty minutes of total silence.

.

.


	53. The After Effects

.

The puppets were starting to get a little uneasy as Torch and the animals continued to stare at the swelled, groaning forest green door. The door groaned, cracked and splintered a bit as it swelled, deflated and swelled again. Now it looked aged with years. Torch and the animals had been staring at the door for four hours now and it was really starting to get to Blade. What could the animals sense that he couldn't? The brother had taught him how to heighten his senses with his magic so that he could see and hear on the same level as the animals, but this type of sensory he couldn't figure out.

Another two hours had passed when the chickens started clucking. Thirty minutes later the duck started quacking, another thirty minutes and the doves and pigeons started cooing, minutes after that the snakes became active and started slithering around, looking for a place to hole up in. Only Torch remained staring at the door. But he soon snapped out of it and started wagging his reptilian-dinosaur-like tail and whimpering in eagerness.

“ _Aw, he's just a wittle puppy._ ” Jester cooed who was lying on his stomach on the bed, having gotten tired from standing around on the desk and sitting on its hard wooden surface.  
Torch ran up to the door, stood on his hind legs and started scratching on the door and barking for a few seconds and backed away when the door finally opened and the brother came out carrying a limp Six Shooter and placed him in his old cell. The kid came out a few seconds later, picked up Torch and went to his room without saying a word.

“ _What happened in there?_ ” Blade asked.

“Shh!” the brother hissed. “Let’s head down to the kitchen and we’ll talk there.” Kokiri said, locked Six’s cell and left the room.

.

“ _So, what happened?_ ” Blade asked, once they were all in the kitchen. The kid and Torch were still upstairs, sleeping.

They were all gathered at the preparation table. Well, Kokiri was seated at the table and the puppets were on its surface.

“We managed to lure the creature out of Six.” Kokiri said, mixing himself a cup of tea. “But it managed to grab Panther during our fight and he was sent back 5000 years into the past.”

“ _I thought this creature had a name._ ” Jester said.

“She does, but in her conquest to win herself a husband she regressed into that of a basic female human: Seek out a mate. And since she had fixated on one specific person since she was a child that need became her sole drive, nothing else mattered.” Kokiri said.

“ _Just who was this person she wanted so badly?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you guys have heard of him. His story is quite a popular novel.” Kokiri said with a coy smile.

“ _So? Don’t leave us guessing._ ” Blade said.

“Harry Potter.” Kokiri said and took a sip of his tea.

“ _W-H-A-A-T?!?!_ ” chorused the puppets.

“ _Harry Potter? But that’s total fiction!_ ” Tunneler said.

“Your story would be as well if you ever decided to write about it.” Kokiri replied.

Tunneler took a breath to speak again, but thought about it. “ _Yeah, I suppose you’re right._ ” he mumbled.

“ _So, this Panther fella, is he Professor Snape?_ ” Jester asked.

“Yep.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Well, I’ll be darned._ ” Jester said quietly.

“ _Why do you call him Panther?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“Me and the kid came across Panther in his fifth year when he was being bullied by two boys.” Kokiri said.

“ _James and Sirius._ ” Jester said.

“You’ve read the books?” Blade asked Jester.

“ _Yeah, I love books._ ” Jester replied.

“Well then, you know why he was being bullied.” Kokiri said.

“ _Yeah, but the story didn’t say anything about you or your brother._ ” Jester said.

“There’s an explanation to that but I’ll tell you some other time.” Kokiri said and smirked when the little Toulons groaned in disappointment. “Anyway, we call him Panther because he’d accidentally sat on one of the kid’s syringes that had Mystican Panther DNA in it for an experiment of his and most Mystican blood is very adaptable, especially with magical folk. This particular panther was from the Ocean Kingdom, the same region where I came from, so it was very adaptable and could blend itself with its hosts own DNA structure. Panther started getting headaches and lower backaches a couple of weeks later and Amanda had the three of us escorted to the med bay to help him. His ears transformed from Terran to pointy pitch black panther cat ears and he started growing a tail. Amanda had me stretch out his ears and pull out his tail since he didn’t let anyone else near him.”

“ _Pfft, liar._ ” Blade smirked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, you’re right, I was the only one who could do it without feeling remorseful to his pain.” Kokiri smiled.

Blade chuckled.

“ _How long has the kid been dabbling in chemistry?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“Oh, let me see, he first started when we were in third grade, . . . . since he was twelve.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Twelve and in the third grade?_ ” Blade asked a bit skeptical.

“Our grading system is different as well. We rely on a point system.” Kokiri said.

“ _Like at Hogwarts?_ ” Jester asked.

“Kind of, but it was also our currency. The school we attended was in space, you see.” Kokiri said and took another sip of his tea.

“ _Yeah, that makes sense._ ” Jester said.

“ _So, what happened in that room? What happened to Six?_ ” Blade asked.

“Six is fine. We severed the tie the creature had on him and made absolutely sure there were no residue crumbs.” Kokiri said.

“ _Yeah, but what h-a-p-p-e-n-e-d?_ ” Blade asked, dragging out the last word.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Kokiri asked, setting his empty tea cup aside and leaned on the table.

“ _Why did he arch his back? What caused the explosion? Who was that fourth person? And why couldn’t my magic get through but Torch could?_ ” Blade asked.

“Six arched his back because he was also fighting against the creature and the creature wouldn’t let go of him. The explosion was caused when we severed her ties. The fourth person was Number One, my boss. I’ll tell you later.” Kokiri said, stating the last part before Blade could say anything. “And your magic couldn’t get through because Number One wouldn’t allow it. I got into a bit of trouble concerning your magic; and Torch could sense the goings-on because he’s more animal than you lot. Animals are more sensitive to EMF’s than people are.” Kokiri answered and refilled his cup.

“ _Since when did you drink tea?_ ” Pinhead asked.

The brother’s fox ears pinned back and he frowned in annoyance. “Since Chugs fell asleep and hid the coffee pot from me.” he grumbled and downed his tea, making the Toulons laugh.

“ _So, what’s gonna happen to Six now?_ ” Jester asked.

“He’ll be asleep for a few days to recuperate. He’ll have the same security as Torch did. After that, who knows.” Kokiri answered and filled his cup again and took a drink.

“ _What about Panther?_ ” Blade asked. “ _Six said he looked just like his Grand-Pappy._ ”

Kokiri unexpectedly spat out his drink, away from them. “Say what?!”

“ _That’s what Six said. Your Panther looked just like his Grand-Pappy. All the way down to his attire, his little stick-_ ” said Blade.

“Wand.” Kokiri corrected.

“ _\--whatever, his cape--_ ” Blade continued.

“Robe.” Kokiri corrected.

“ _\--to his deep baritone voice._ ” Blade finished.

“If Panther is Six’s relation, and Panther is related to us through adoption and you’re all related through creation then we’re all related.” Kokiri said.

The puppets thought over the list the brother listed but he said it too fast.

“ _Wait, say that again._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _A bit slower this time._ ” Jester added.

“If Panther is Six’s relation . . . and Panther is related to me and Chugs through adoption . . . and you’re all related through creation . . . then we’re all related to each other.” Kokiri said, pausing in-between.

The puppets thought this over for a few minutes before Jester’s head spun to his surprised expression. “ _That’s why we obey you without a second thought._ ” he said. “ _You’re the oldest._ ”

Blade looked over to the brother. “ _So you’re our . . . what? Our Master?_ ” he asked.

Kokiri shrugged.

“ _Well, give us an order and we’ll see._ ” Blade said.

“Don’t call me master, only sniveling, cowardly humans can.” Kokiri said.

“ _Okay, M--_ ” Blade said and tried to say ‘Master’ but found himself shutting up. “ _Well, what can we call you?_ ” he asked.

“I don’t know, what have you guys been calling me?” Kokiri asked.

“ _We’ve just been referring to you as the brother._ ” Pinhead said.

“That works.” Kokiri said nonchalantly.

“ _I’m curious about something._ ” Tunneler stated. “ _Torch claimed the kid as his master back when were still at the cabin. How can he do that if he’s our baby brother and has to follow a master that Blade chooses?_ ” he asked.

“Torch may have been created by Andre Toulon but it was with dead hands. You lot were created while Andre was alive so the ties of loyalty weren’t as well put with him as they were with you guys.” Kokiri answered.

“ _Oh-h-h-h,_ ” they chorused.

Jester’s face spun back to his mischievous grin and he looked at Blade. “ _You know what else I just noticed?_ ”

“ _What?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _They never once called us puppets._ ” Jester said.

Blade thought back to all the times with the brothers and found that Jester right. The two brothers always referred to them as Toulons, Little Toulons, folks or just guys.

“You guys have free will, and we frown upon the use of puppetry, unless it’s a children’s show. The kid used to perform for kids before his heart was broken.” Kokiri said.

“ _Really?_ ” Jester asked excitedly.

“Yeah, he used to perform magic shows and puppet shows of all sorts. There was his finger puppets and hand puppet shows for toddlers, the old vintage shows, the kind you guys probably performed in in your days, and he would sometimes bring his chemistry and cooking sets and let them play. He was also quite the magician.” Kokiri said with a bit of fondness. “And then Colby had to go and break his heart. The kid had the heart of a Cartoon, you see, and if you break a Cartoon’s heart they lose their powers. They stop being funny, they lose their colors, a lot of their abilities, like falling from skyscrapers and going splat on the ground, completely flat, or hitting the brakes during their long fall or turning into some object to slip through the thinnest or smallest space is lost.” Kokiri said and sighed, stirring his cup.

“He used to make me laugh all the time too.” he mumbled and went silent for a bit.

The puppets looked at each other at this revelation of the kid and the brother’s reaction from such a loss. “ _And if they don’t get their abilities back?_ ” Jester asked, his face a frown.

“They don’t always get them back. I had it for a while but then I lost someone and never really quite healed. After I turned fifteen, it was gone for good.” Kokiri said.

“ _But the kid should have some Cartoon Powers left. He did say he nearly lost all of his Cartoon Powers._ ” Jester said.

“Yeah, but barely. It only shows up a great every now and again. Torch has been bringing some of it out. Kid’s always wanted a child of his own, and Torch provides that wish. But Chugs also wants to settle down and start up a large family. He likes to be around a lot of people because he comes from a large family. A very large family.” Kokiri said.

“ _And you?_ ” Blade asked.

“Me? I’m an only child who despises their birth parents. My Dad, the one who raised me died when I was eight years old in a sea storm. My Mom, the woman who raised me died of old age. The people I loved have always come to an end one way or another except the kid. So, there you go.” Kokiri said.

Jester raised his hand to ask about the other people but Kokiri cut him off by lowering his glasses and gave him a sharp look.

“I’m gonna go for a swim. I’ll see you guys later.” he said and left the room.

.

.


	54. Reminiscing

.

The puppets left the kitchen and were in the old dining room where one of their past masters had dead psychics at the dinner table, taking their time back to the attic room. Tunneler wanted to remain in the kitchen to help out the mice and rats but he was dismissed, the head nurse saying they had everything under control. So, he wandered around with his brothers, going over everything the brother had said.

“ _I don’t really like coming in here._ ” Jester said. “ _It still gives me the creeps._ ”

“ _So you didn’t forget them, either, huh?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _How could we? It’s hard to when their faces are the last things we see before killing them._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _It’s not like they were exactly good people anyway._ ” Pinhead said. “ _Even Neil’s wife eventually turned against us._ ”

“ _Such a shame too. We don’t get many female masters._ ” Blade said.

“ _You know, I think you hang around the brother too much._ ” Jester said with a chuckle.

“ _S’pose I am._ ” Blade chuckled. “ _You know what else?_ ” he asked.

“ _What?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _We’ve never been sent out to kill anyone. Just these totems. We’ve been with the two brothers for six months now and we haven’t killed a single soul._ ” Blade said.

“ _That’s right. But then again, the brothers can take care of their own business._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _Yeah, remember one of the brother’s hobbies was a Mob Boss?_ ” Jester asked Blade.

“ _Yes, I do remember that._ ” Blade answered.

“ _The brother’s a Mob Boss? Really?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Yeah, what do you know about them?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Mob Bosses are like hard-core top-gun criminals._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _Like a puppet master?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Yeah, like a---_ ” Pinhead began but stopped abruptly when Blade said that.

“ _But the brother said they frown upon puppetry._ ” Jester said.

“ _Like I said, who knows what goes on in those brains of theirs. They say one thing but manage to mean another._ ” Blade said. “ _The whole thing was giving me a headache so I left it alone._ ”

“ _They are rather confusing, aren’t they?_ ” Tunneler said. “ _Putting a room where none is suppose to be._ ”

“ _They hate humans yet take on human form._ ” Pinhead said, adding to the list.

“ _They have a different definition for humans though and call the people Terrans._ ” Jester said. “ _Maybe they have a different definition for the word puppets than what it usually means._ ” he suggested.

“ _So, what other definition could the word ‘puppet’ mean for the two brothers other than what it usually means?_ ” Blade asked.

The other three thought for a moment. “ _That is the question._ ” Jester finally said.

“ _Well, the usual definition for puppets would be us, entertainment-wise._ ” Tunneler said. “ _Another reason could be the way Albus Dumbledore manipulates people._ ”

“ _Who?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Albus Dumbledore._ ” Tunneler repeated.

“ _You know, the old man in the Harry Potter books._ ” Jester said.

“ _Old man?_ ” Blade questioned.

“ _Yeah, an old wizened wizard who believed in some prophecy about Harry being the Chosen One to defeat the bad guy._ ” Jester said. “ _. . . Why do you ask?_ ”

Blade tapped his fingers against his hook for a few seconds. “ _Who is Ginerva Molly Weasley?_ ” he asked.

“ _Ginny Weasley, Harry’s supposed wife. At least in the books she’s his wife._ ” Jester answered. “ _Why?_ ” he asked.

“ _When the brother first entered Six’s mind after we watched their old war movies, I heard him conversing with someone else. It was a one-sided conversation, but he did mention an old man who used children for his wars._ ” Blade said.

“ _Sounds like Dumbledore._ ” Jester said and started giving brief summaries of the books, focusing on the old man and answering Blade’s questions the best he could.

“ _So this Dumbledore character used emotional black mail and guilt against Severus Snape to make sure he did his bidding?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Yeah, pretty much._ ” Jester said.

“ _Maybe that’s the different definition the brothers meant about puppetry._ ” Blade suggested.

“ _Could be, Emotion is the third level, isn’t it?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Yeah, and the highest crime should you commit emotional harm._ ” Blade said.

“ _What’s the second?_ ” Tunneler asked.

“ _Stupidity and Idiocy._ ” Blade answered. “ _And with the examples the brother gave I agree with him._ ”

“ _There’s a difference?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Oh yeah, but I don’t want to go into it, just thinking about it is giving me a headache._ ” Blade said and rested against a window near the entrance doors. The same window he had spied through when Rick Myers used to live at the Inn. “ _So, the terms ‘human’ and ‘puppetry’ have different meanings for the brothers.” he said, crossing his arms. “They don’t like being called masters,_ ” 

“ _They haven’t sent us out to kill anyone._ ” Jester said.

“ _They don’t call us puppets._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _They gave us additional and useful skills._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _They cured Six Shooter from a possessive girl demon._ ” Blade said and chuckled when he remembered Six’s reaction when he learned about that.

“ _And Torch has a brand new body and was given the chance to be loved and cared for._ ” Jester said.

“ _Not only that, but the kid can go head to head with Six. The brother can scare him to death if he wanted to._ ” Blade said.

“ _And the kid has trunks that have whole entire rooms inside them._ ” said Tunneler.

“ _And he can talk to animals. One of his professions was an animal trainer, wasn’t it?_ ” Jester asked.

“ _Yeah, and he knows potions, chemistry, anatomy, is a doctor, an engineer, works in mechanics, knows his metals and can control the earth._ ” Blade said.

“ _These brothers have been very kind to us compared to all of the other masters we’ve had._ ” Jester said. “ _Father only referred to us as puppets when there were other people around._ ” he added.

“ _He did, didn’t he?_ ” Pinhead said.

“ _He did?_ ” Blade asked.

“ _Oh, that’s right, you’re the second youngest out of all of us. I keep forgetting that._ ” Jester smiled and squeezed Blade in a hug.

“ _So who’s the oldest?_ ” Blade asked in a grunt. The hug caught him by surprise and he had the air squeezed out of him.

“ _Uh, . . ._ ” replied Jester.

“ _Me and Jester are roughly the same age._ ” Pinhead said.

“ _The brother said Six was the first born brother._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Yes, but he was also with the Retro Puppets so his body could have been remade._ ” Blade said.

“ _Still makes him the oldest._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _How do you know?_ ” Pinhead asked.

“ _Because I was also with the Retro Puppets._ ” Tunneler answered. “ _I was Drill Sergeant._ ”

“ _Say what now?_ ” Blade asked, still being held by Jester.

“ _I don’t want Six to know, ok? Andre gave me a different name and different clothes when he re-made me. I was also there when Six’s magic was bound._ ” Tunneler said.

“ _Why would Father bind Six’s magic? Did he know how to do that?_ ” Jester asked, still hugging Blade.

“ _No, I couldn’t see who it was, but I do remember a voice very much like the brother’s talking to Andre._ ” Tunneler said. “ _As for binding Six’s magic, it was because he tried to take us over. He muttered a spell that made us obey him instead of Andre and he nearly had us kill Andre so he could be turned into a puppet as well._ ”

The other three gasped at this.

“ _But Blade and Dr. Death stopped him before we did any harm to Andre. Though in order to do so, me, Pinhead and Cyclops had to fight them. Cyclops was taken out first, Six striking him in the face and removing his head. Pinhead snuck up behind Six and bound his arms giving the rest of us the time to fight him off. Six kicked me away, and managed to wrestle Pinhead off, and then had Blade and Dr. Death stab each other. Blade and Dr. Death had done damage to Six, cutting four and a half of his arms off. And then Six shot Pinhead in the neck and me in the back._ ” Tunneler said and sat down on a table’s limb.

“ _Cor,_ ” Jester breathed.

“ _I thought Six would recognize me once he woke up in his new body and try to attack me again, but Andre spun a lie saying I was a slave in the salt mines he’d befriended before I ‘died’ and put my soul into the newly Drill Sergeant design, calling me Tunneler to connect with the salt mine lie. But I was in a military uniform. I got promoted, I guess._ ” Tunneler chuckled softly.

“ _From Sergeant to Colonel, eh?_ ” Jester smirked.

“ _Yeah,_ ” Tunneler smiled and brought his hands up to his face and started crying over the loss of his old friends.

The other three gave him a hug to help ease his grief.

.

.


	55. Taking A Breather

.

Blade sent the others back up to the attic room for some rest while he waited for the brother to return from his nightly swim. He would have gone down to meet him there but the heavy snow that had started to fall prevented him. He'd thought about using his coat as a shield to prevent himself from getting wet but it wouldn't save his feet from the snow. So he waited in the messy lounge room. The totems that were still there all screeched at him, but the traps held them in place. 

A cleaning crew had come through recently because all the flame retardant dust was swept up and he could see the vacuum trails that were left behind. He was waiting in the lounge room, even though it was freezing due to the open window, because the brother never entered through the front doors. He’s seen him leave through the front doors but never enter. The brother preferred coming in through the windows.

.

Torch was placed on the table for the return to his original body but he didn't want to go back in his old body. He liked his new one. So as soon as his master let go of him, he jumped off the desk and up on the bed, snuggled close to the pillows and lied down.

“Torch, I know you don’t want to go back in your old body, and I wasn’t going to put you back in there.” Chug smiled. “I just wanted to run a scan on you.”

“ _Can we do it tomorrow?_ ” Torch asked.

Chug got up and picked up Torch and put him back on the table. “No, because I’ll be very busy tomorrow.” Chug answered. “Me and Kegs are going somewhere and I won’t be able to take you with me. So, be a good boy and open your mouth, please?”

Torch lowered his head and lied down on his stomach.

“Torch, please, after this I’ll read to you and we can have fish, yeah?”

“ _Why should I open my mouth?_ ” Torch asked.

“Dental work.” Chug answered and coaxed Torch to open his mouth for his inspection. Chug checked the roof of Torch’s mouth to make sure the fireproof plate he inserted was working properly and didn’t create any back-drafts. He checked Torch’s throat for any such evidence, then checked his eyes, his claws, weight and his fuel tanks. Torch was fine.

“My bairn, when me and Kegs return next week, I’ll see if I can upgrade you to a proper cyborg, yeah?” Chug smiled.

Torch jumped up and down excitedly. “ _Cyborg! Cyborg!_ ”

“Alright, my bairn, come on, into bed with you and we can read.” Chug chuckled headed over to his bookshelf.

Torch lept from the desk to the chair to the floor and then up onto the bed. He sniffed out his Teddy-Master from under the pillows and settled down.

Chug returned to the bed and snuggled the both of them under the covers and he started reading ‘Rumplestiltskin’ to Torch.

.

Kokiri was swimming under the ocean’s surface way out into sea looking for fish. Winter had started and he was hoping to come across some migratory group and catch himself a meal. He didn’t mean to reveal that he once had Cartoon Powers, but the little Toulons had asked and he and Chugs lived by a rule: Ask and Ye shall Receive. Sometimes it was a blessing and other times it was a curse. Once most people learned about this rule they soon started taking advantage of it, it was like asking a genie for a wish. This rule tended to work like that, but it was soon adapted: Abuse this rule and Get what’s Coming. This rule of asking and ye shall receive prompted some of Kokiri’s major hunting grounds both physically and mentally. He started writing contracts to those who took advantage of the first rule, and hunted down those who took advantage of the second.

But with the little Toulons, they simply asked about the welfare of their brothers. That he didn’t mind. The formula in their systems had his blood and he had willed his blood to be protective towards his own brother with a complete deadly hatred towards humans.

During his mental studies of the place and its happenings, Kokiri had come across a memory of Rick Myers and his friends. He had studied in the attic while everyone was asleep one night and he came across Blade’s dream of when his brothers were woken by Rick Myers. Pinhead, Tunneler and Six Shooter took an instant disliking to one of Rick’s friends even though they were only awake for a few seconds. Kokiri had looked into the eyes of the one they didn’t like and agreed with their tuition. He had greed, arrogance and self-importance about him that Kokiri found disgusting and nearly threw up his dinner from such a sight and exited Blade’s dream and went for a deep swim as soon as possible.

He swam back to Bodega Bay, not finding any fish and figured the kid could probably whip up something before they headed out tomorrow.

.

Blade paced by the window waiting for the brother to return. Dawn was on the verge of breaking and he had been pacing since nightfall last night. He’d started a small fire in the fireplace to keep himself warm, the warmth from his coat having evaporated, he stayed near the little fire for about an hour before he went back to pacing. He looked out the window every now and again to see if he could spot the brother coming up from the trail.

The snow had stopped roughly about half an hour ago and the clouds had cleared bit, moonlight shining through and onto the snow helped to provide him with the necessary light to keep watch for the brother. He looked out at the snow again and felt a thought coming to him. He looked at the untouched snow again, feeling that nagging feeling in his head getting stronger. His coat turned into his wings that were ready to launch and his limbs tensed but he didn’t know why. He sent out a pulse to see what was bothering him and why he was suddenly on edge when--

“BOO!!”

Blade’s wings pushed him away from the window and he landed on his wooden butt ten feet away, hand placed on where his heart would be, breathing heavy and short and hearing the laughter of the brother. He stood up and stomped over to the laughing brother who was crawling through the open window on all fours in his fox form. Once he was in, he closed the windows, still laughing and took a few steps towards the fireplace. He calmed down and found Blade with his arms crossed and his sharp dagger eyes out and tapping his foot.

‘What? You were just asking for it.’ Kokiri said in his thoughts and cleaned a paw.

“ _I oughta slice your gizzards and your neck for that stunt!_ ” Blade growled, switching his hand to his blade and starting swishing.

‘Oh, don’t be such a party-pooper. You need to learn to relax and have fun.’ Kokiri said and groomed his tail.

“ _And if I don’t?_ ” Blade asked.

Kokiri continued to groom his tail, lied down and looked him in the eye. ‘You know you and Jester remind me so much of me and Chugs when we were younger.’

“ _And?_ ”

Kokiri revealed a scar he had on his face that started from above his left eyebrow, sloped downwards between his eyebrows, across his bridge, pass under his right eye and end in the middle of his cheek. ‘One of Chugs’ main weapons were a pair silver whips he made. He doesn’t use them much anymore.’ he said and covered the scar again and groomed his other paw.

“ _So what does that have got to do with me being a party-pooper?_ ” Blade asked.

Kokiri stopped and looked at him again with calm eyes before plopping his head down on Blade, yawned and closed his eyes for a quick rest.

“ _Hey! Get offa me!_ ”

.

Chug petted Torch before sneaking out of bed and head down to the kitchen. He was getting a little hungry and he figured Kegs would want something as well before they left. Kokiri could go for days without food, getting some raw material during missions mostly. And Jester was getting a little worried about Blade. Jester reminded him so much of himself that he feared that Jester would inevitably get into a fight with Blade and chase him away the same way he did with his own brother. Those were the worst five years, and when he finally did find Kokiri he stayed by his side like glue until Kokiri had to literally pull him off like velcro and tell him it was all okay.

Soon after their reunion he met Colby and took him to the Castle to heal him and fell in love. Then Colby had to go and suggest he have his memory hidden in order to prove Chug’s theory that the heart never forgets. Well, he certainly proved that! Several times even! Before he did anything he’d asked his brother about his thoughts when he first met Colby. Kokiri had said Colby felt a little off but since he was good and had an innocent soul he couldn’t be certain. He gave Colby one more chance and he blew it.

Now his heart was broken and most of his Cartoon abilities with it. Perhaps after they were done with this latest task he could ask Kegs to do what he had done to Colby. Maybe then he could move on and find someone else. Maybe . . . hmm, perhaps Kegs would let him take his friend from the 30's with them on this trip. Kegs had shown an unusual amount of trust towards him. He never worried about him turning his back on them, or possible betrayal. What was up with that?

.

Blade had been pushing against the brother’s head for ten minutes, trying to get him off his chest but the brother refused to budge so he gave up and just laid there under his jaws, all the while the brother just watched with humor in his eyes.

‘Come on, you’re not gonna give up now, are you?’ Kokiri smiled.

“ _Why do you torment me so?_ ” Blade groaned.

‘It’s fun.’

“ _Yeah, I’ll bet it is, you . . . ._ ” Blade drummed his fingers thinking of a good insult. “ _drooling pup._ ” he grumbled.

‘Drooling pup, he says.’ Kokiri grinned. ‘Well, if it’s drool you want . . .’

“ _No! No, you wouldn’t dare!_ ”

Kokiri’s pale pink tongue came out and he gave a slurpy, wet, slick lick on Blade’s entire front, pinning the ends of his coat to hold him in place and then let go to watch Blade scramble up and wipe as much as the drool off as possible, especially his face and glared at him.

“You liked it.” Kokiri said with cheekiness and transformed back into his human form and magically collected the drool from Blade.

“ _There are times when I really hate you._ ” Blade grumbled and wiped his face again. “ _I think I got some in my mouth._ ”

“Would you like me to get it?” Kokiri asked.

“ _No! Ew! As if I don't get enough teasing from my brothers._ " Blade said in annoyance.

“What do you mean?” Kokiri asked.

“ _They think that I like you, which I do, but not like that. I mean you and me are a lot alike when it comes to watching over our brothers._ ” Blade said.

“Oh, well, even if you did, you wouldn’t exactly be the first.” Kokiri said.

“ _Why wouldn’t I?_ ” Blade asked.

“Come on, two-hundred years in this body? I had both sexes after me. Kidnapped, poisoned, drugged, thrown in a closet bound and gagged. I’ll share some of the memories with you some time in the future and we’ll see if you prefer your current life over mine.” Kokiri said and swore in a pinky swear with the little Toulon and they parted ways.

.

Kokiri headed into the kitchen to find his brother working at the stove.

“Hey kid,” he greeted.

Chug turned around and saw his brother. “Oh, hey Kegs.” he greeted back.

Kokiri pulled up a chair and sat down with a heavy sigh. “So, how do you think Torch is going to handle seven to ten days without you?” he asked.

“That’s what I’m worried about. I’ve been with him for eight months now and he’s just a little baby.” Chug said and served up a plate of pork chops, corn, and mashed potatoes for he and his brother, grabbing some soda out of the fridge for them.

“When you say ‘baby’?” Kokiri asked, cutting into his meat.

“I mean he’s a baby. His neurals read as those of an infant.” Chug said and opened his drink.

“But Torch is roughly twenty years old, isn’t he?” Kokiri asked.

“I know, but the readings say otherwise. If he were a Mystican, he’d be only two years old and that’s the age I get when I scan him.” Chug said and cut into his meat.

“Hmm, strange.” Kokiri mumbled.

Chug looked up at Kokiri, curious about his nonchalant attitude. “Okay, what do you know?” he asked.

“Do you plan on making him a full cyborg when we return?” Kokiri asked.

“Yeah, he wants to be a cyborg, why?” Chug asked.

“Torch would require a digestive system and some organic parts for this full cyborg, wouldn’t he?” Kokiri asked.

“Well, yeah, I was planning on giving him maybe a puppy body so that he could grow naturally.” Chug said.

“Organic parts are a tricky thing when it comes to making full cyborgs.” Kokiri said. “You’d need something Torch’s brain matter came from to clone a new body for him.”

“So I’ll make a synthetic one that he’ll have to shed in order to grow. Like a lobster.” Chug said.

Kokiri placed his utensils down and removed his glasses. “And if I told you I knew where it came from?” he asked, looking his brother in the eyes.

Chug paused his actions and looked back and narrowed his eyes. “Since when?” he grumbled with a pout.

“It was right before our fight. I was putting the body away when you entered the library.” Kokiri said.

“Bloody blazes, why the blazes didn’t you tell me?” Chug asked.

“You’d just gotten back from your lunch date and then blurted out your intentions with that thing and I reacted.” Kokiri said.

“Yeah, what a mistake that two-timing twerp turned out to be.” Chug said and continued with his meal. “Still, he did manage to do something good. Forced me to grow up.”

“I suppose, but back to the matter at hand. After we get back you can ask Torch if he would like to return to his original biological body. And if he does, then you can have a chance to raise him all over again from newborn state and all the little joys that come with it.” Kokiri said.

“Swaddling him in a fuzzy blanket and bottle feeding.” Chug said dreamily and squealed. “I’m sold, but I don’t know if Torch will. He really wants to be a cyborg.” Chug said and polished off his plate and gathered up the dishes.

“We leave tomorrow afternoon, so you’ll have time.” Kokiri said and threw the empty soda cans in the trash and they headed back up to the attic room.

.

.


	56. Epilogue

.

The brothers went off on assignment and were away for twelve days. The puppets had worried they’d been abandoned again when the due date for their return had passed, Torch especially, but once they saw the car lights coming down the driveway he was the first one to race down the stairs and jump up to greet his master. Blade was the second one to fly past and nearly crashed into the brother.

The whole time they were away the puppets helped the cleaning crew with the lounge room and the removal of the totems, storing most of them in tanks and the others were fed to the raptors and rexes.

Six Shooter had recovered from his exorcism rest and had even apologized to Torch for his behavior. Torch was still wary of him but Six didn’t smell like his old self. Blade had tried teaching Jester how to tap into his core but so far nothing was working.

Jester never minded it, saying maybe he was more like the kid in the magical aspect than he was with the brother.

But now that they’ve returned, with goodies no less, the puppets felt that maybe they would finally find the peace they’ve been looking for.

.

.


End file.
